HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



16' 



material alone. The individual paits of delicate 

 objects preserved their proper relations ; tire pre- 

 paration remains dry, and the process of making 

 sections does not require the use of alcohol, and 

 sections can be made as thin as when paramn only 

 is used. The method is as follows : — The alcoholic 

 preparation is allowed to lie for a few hours in a 

 mixture of equal volumes of alcohol and ether ; it is 

 then placed for twenty-four hours in a solution of 

 celloidin, the strength of which is immaterial. It is 

 now placed in ordinary oil of origanum, subsequently 

 in a mixture of paramn and oil of origanum, which 

 should not be over 104 Fahr. in temperature, and 

 finally in melted paraffin. The length of time that 

 it should remain in the oil of origanum, in the solu- 

 tion of paraffin, and in the melted paraffin, depends 

 on the character of the object, and must be ascer- 

 tained by trial. 



New Slides.— From Mr. F. Enoch (Woking), 

 we have received a splendidly-mounted specimen of 

 the large jumping spider (Salticus tardigradus) mounted 

 without pressure. The object retains the natural 

 form of the creature, and the eyes are as brilliant as 

 noble opals. It is mounted as an opaque object. 

 Mr. Ernest Hinton (12 Vorley Road, Upper 

 Holloway) has kindly forwarded us a most interesting 

 and cleverly cut and mounted preparation, shewing 

 the unisexual flowers from inside the common 

 fig. It plainly illustrates the remarkable mode of 

 reproduction of this plant. The flowers are packed 

 all over the inner surface, and are merely divided 

 from each other by soft, colourless bracts. The speci- 

 men is intended to be examined by the paraboloid. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Boar-fish {Capros aper, Cuv. ; Lens aper, 

 Linn.). — Yesterday morning, April 19th, five living 

 specimens of this rare and beautiful fish were sent me 

 from Babbicombe, where they had been just caught 

 in a mackerel-net. They had been unfortunately 

 conveyed in so small a quantity of water, that by the 

 time they reached me they were nearly exhausted. 

 Yet on being immediately put into a large marine 

 aquarium, two of them revived. These have passed 

 the night well, and are vigorous this morning ; their 

 brilliant hues, and sprightly movements, rendering 

 them ornamental and attractive. The specimens were 

 all exactly alike. Total length 5 inches, vertical 

 depth (from points of first dorsal to points of ventral) 

 3! inches ; thickness, just behind head, § inch : — 

 colour pale scarlet, fading to pearly white on belly, 

 rich vermilion on back, whence undefined bands run 

 vertically down each side ; the stouter fin-rays are 

 tipped with scarlet. Yarrell (Br. Fish. vol. i. 190) 

 has given a very good figure of the species, which he 

 considers one of much rarity, insomuch that the first 



British capture of it recorded (in October, 1825) was 

 considered an occurrence worthy of being com- 

 municated to the Zoological Society. The present 

 is, however, not the only occasion on which I have 

 known it taken in Babbicombe Bay ; where it is 

 known by the name of the Fan Dory, in apparent 

 distinction from its near ally, the John Dory (/'/ 

 janitorc). In captivity, as I have said, this charming 

 fish is of graceful and pleasing manners. Ever 

 retaining its vertical position, it swims incessantly 

 about, gliding to and fro into every part of the tank, 

 usually a few inches below the surface, ever protruding 

 and retracting its telescopic snout, its strong spinous 

 fins erected, and its immense liquid eyes greatly 

 enhancing its beauty. — P. H. Gosse, F.R.S., Sand- 

 hurst, St. Mary church, Torquay. 



Physa elliptica.— On the 12th of October, 18S7, 

 I was at Powderhorn, in Gunnison, co. Colorado, 

 and close to White Earth Creek I found a very small 

 and shallow pool crowded with a species of Physa 

 new to the Colorado fauna, which Mr. H. A. Pilsbry 

 has kindly determined for me as P. elliptica, Lea. 

 This species has something of the outline of P.fon- 

 tinalis, but the mantle is not spread over the shell. 

 The specimens belonged to a var. decollata, having 

 the spire eroded and truncate, which may have been 

 due to overcrowding, and the fact that the only food 

 they had consisted of dark green globular algae, 

 about the same size as the physa;. Small limnrea are 

 now very abundant in the road-side ditches about 

 West Cliff, Custer co.,' which I cannot distinguish 

 from European Limncsa truncatula, although in 

 America they would be referred to L. humilis, Say. — 

 T. D. A. Cockerel!, West Cliff, Colorado, May 10th, 

 18S8. 



Book-worms. — In the interest of a number of 

 book-lovers out here, I avail myself of the pages of 

 your popular and widely-read journal to bring the 

 facts stated below to the notice of the publishing 

 firms at home. Recent publications are attacked by 

 larvce, which in many cases bore their way right 

 through a book. They usually start from the inner 

 edge, or thereabouts, of the covers 5 in other cases 

 they select other points of attack, while in several 

 instances the bore begins mysteriously in the very 

 heart of a volume. I have found larvae and pupae, 

 and frequently little brown beetles (in one case four 

 or five ant-pupae) in these borings, but I think the 

 beetle larva is the chief delinquent. I have not 

 found ova. The new "serials," indeed all new- 

 books, biographies, science primers and manuals, 

 and the like, are special favourites with these pests. 

 Mites sometimes are to be found, and lepismse, 

 which are said to feed on mites, but not to injure 

 the books themselves. I now "kyanize" all new- 

 books with a weak solution of corrosive sublimate 

 dissolved in spirits of wine, and applied freely to the 

 inner surfaces of the covers, about the binding, &c> 



