278 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Rain fell on three days of the week, to the aggregate 

 . amount of 0*20 of an inch. The duration of registered 

 bright sunshine in the week was 12*5 hours, against 

 10 • 6 hours at Glynde Pace, Lewes. 



For the week ending 17th November, the lowest 

 reading of the barometer was 29*23 in. on Tuesday 

 morning, and the highest 39*01 in. on Thursday 

 evening. The mean temperature of the air was 50*5 

 deg., and 8*3 deg. above the average. The general 

 direction of the wind was southerly. Rain fell on 

 four days of the week, to the aggregate amount of 

 0*40 of an inch. The duration of registered bright 

 sunshine in the week was 8*6 hours, against 7*4 hours 

 . at Glynde Place, Lewes. 



The isotherms or lines of mean temperature for 

 December again fall. On the east coast and in the 

 .midlands they are almost in the form of the letter U ; 

 while towards the west coast they run almost north- 

 east to south-west. The lowest isotherm 39 , runs 

 from the Firth of Forth, through Sunderland and 

 York, nearly to Leicester, trends inland, and then 

 back northward through Derby, Bradford, and 

 Carlisle to Dumfries. 40 runs from Middlesbrough 

 along the east coast to Ramsgate then inwards 

 through London, and northward through Oxford, 

 Worcester, and Chester, to the Solway Firth. 41 

 runs southward through Liverpool, Hereford, and 

 Bristol, and then takes an easterly direction through 

 Salisbury and Winchester to Canterbury. 42 runs 

 from Denbigh through Devon and Dorset to the Isle 

 of Wight ; from 43 to 45 run nearly parallel to each 

 other, much farther towards the west, while 46 only 

 just crosses Cornwall near the Land's End. 



The mean rainfall for December is two inches for 

 the east coast and Midlands, three inches for the 

 south coast, and from four to five inches on the west 

 coast. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Royal Microscopical Society. — The 

 last Journal of the above society, in addition to the 

 usual summary of current researches relating to 

 zoology and botany, contains the following papers, 

 both copiously illustrated : — " On the Reproductive 

 condition of Orbitolites complanatus, var. laciniata," 

 by H. B. Brady, F.R.S. ; and " Notices of New In- 

 fusoria Flagellata from American fresh waters," by 

 Dr. A. C. Stokes. 



New Slides.— Mr. A. C. Cole has just brought 

 ■ out some very remarkable new slides, mounted in his 

 well-known neat and clean manner. One is a 

 vertical transverse section of the human eye (stained) 

 showing all the parts from pupil to optic nerve. The 

 second is a similar section of the eye of greenfinch. 

 The third slide shows the optic nerve entering the 

 • eye of a greenfinch. 



BOTANY. 



A New Grass Fungus. — Last August I collected 

 a grass fungus, which I had not seen before, near Red 

 Creek, Custer Co., Colorado. The specimen was 

 sent to Mr. J. B. Ellis, who replied, " This seems to 

 be a Uromyces. It is quite different from U. grami- 

 nicola, Burrill, the spores being much like those of 

 Uredo graminis, but on distinct pedicels." This 

 I presumed new species is therefore called provisionally 

 U. castanens. Among the larger fungi, recent 

 additions to the Custer Co. flora are possibly new 

 species of Inocybe (/. occidentalis) and Mycenastrum 

 (M. fuscum), which, however, require further investi- 

 gation ; and Polyporus adustus, Fr., which was found 

 on a conifer. Mr. Ellis writes that it is common at 

 Newfield (New Jersey) on deciduous trees. — T. D. A. 

 Cocker ell, West Cliff, Colorado. 



Colorado Alg^e.— Mr. F. Wolle has recently 

 examined a gathering of alga? from Short Creek, 

 Custer Co., Colorado, at about 8,400 feet alt., and 

 in it he finds four species new to my list, viz., 

 Vaucheria geminata, Closterium auumis, Fragilaria 

 capucina, and Diatoma {Odonitidium) hiemale. He 

 has also kindly examined a gathering from near 

 Mace's Hole, Pueblo Co., in which he finds Cocconeis 

 pcdiculus, Gomphonema capitation, and Melosira 

 variatis, the two last being additional to my Colorado 

 list, which now numbers thirty species, against 

 twenty-five recorded for the neighbouring state of 

 Kansas. It should be stated that Colorado, from its 

 dryness and lack of many permanent pools or slow- 

 flowing rivers, is not favourable for the growth of 

 freshwater algae.— T. D. A. Coc/cerell, West Cliff, 

 Custer Co., Colorado. 



Floral Monstrosities. — Some twenty years 

 ago, in a botanical ramble in company of Mr. A. 

 Grugeon and Mr. R. G. Keeley, both of the 

 Working Men's College in Great Ormond Street, 

 I saw several examples of the abnormal form of 

 Lamium galcobdolon mentioned by H. W. Moning- 

 ton. The locality was that part of Epping Forest, 

 known as the Hawk Wood, near Chingford ; and 

 the discovery was first made by one of my friends, 

 I think, Mr. Grugeon. On that occasion we ob- 

 tained ten or twelve specimens, in each of which the 

 stem terminated with a flower having a corolla of 

 five regular and equal lobes. The other parts of the 

 flower— calyx, stamens, &c. — were not so constant, 

 the stamens ranging from five to seven or eight in 

 different plants, the calyx teeth varying also in 

 number, and I think the pistil was absent or im- 

 perfect in all of them. In every instance it was a 

 solitary, terminal flower that deviated thus from the 

 ordinary form. In three or four successive years, a 

 few similar specimens were found by myself in the 

 same vicinity, but none with perfect carpellary 

 organs. Specimens were forwarded by Mr. Keeley 



