HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



13 



dye yellow, and may be used to give green to blue 

 cloths. 



The name Pyrus is derived from the Celtic Peren, 

 and to this most of the European names of the pear 

 may be traced. 



A GEOLOGICAL EXCURSION TO SWIT- 

 ZERLAND. 



By Dr. Rudolf Haeusler. 



AS I have been several times requested to draw 

 up a plan of a geological excursion to Switzer- 

 land, to be accomplished in the shortest possible 

 lime, I may answer many questions at once by 

 sending these few lines to your widely-read paper. 



The pursuance of this plan in a longer or a shorter 

 time depends entirely upon the mode of travelling, 

 but I think a fortnight might be quite sufficient to 

 allow the geologist to see the most interesting geo- 

 logical features of the country. 



As it would be quite impossible to give a full 

 description of the geology of the mentioned localities, 

 I prefer to name chiefly the characteristic fossils 

 which are the most likely to be found, and which will 

 suffice to prove the presence of the different strata. 

 Their geological features may better be seen than 

 described in a few words. 



Arriving at ZUrich, a visit to the large museum of 

 the Polytechnikum gives a good general idea of the 

 characteristic geological formations, the principal 

 fossils and their mode of preservation in strata of the 

 same age at different localities. The museum con- 

 tains, besides, an almost complete collection of Swiss 

 Jurassic Alpine cretaceous and tertiary fossils, and is 

 celebrated for its fishes from the Glarus slate, Oeningen 

 plants, &c. The Wasserkirche contains the museum 

 of objects from Swiss lake-dwellings, and is by far 

 the most complete collection of this kind. 



A trip on the Uetliburg sliows a splendid pano- 

 rama of the Alpine chain, the Jura, molasse hills, 

 and Black Forest, the lake and town of Zurich. 

 Ziirich itself is built upon glacial deposits, remains 

 of the moraine may still be seen (" Katze " in the 

 Botanical Garden). 



A few hours in the afternoon are sufficient to visit 

 the lake - dwellings of Robenhausen and see the 

 collection of Mr. Messikommer. Only at very low 

 water the wooden piles are seen above the surface. 

 The methods of working out the different objects, 

 stone and horn weapons, ornaments, tissues, fruits, 

 &c., is very interesting, showing the manner in 

 which these remains are imbedded in the turf 



Return to Ziirich. Take train to Baden. Visit the 

 quarries at the foot of the old castle Stein. The 

 yellowish limestones, belonging chiefly to the upper 

 Jurassic zone of Ammonite's Inmainmatits are not 



very fossiliferous, but contain besides large re- 

 markably well preserved hexactinellid sponges, a few 

 cephalopods, brachiopods, &c. The more interest- 

 ing grey marly limestones near the railway cut 

 (Nationalbahn) representing the zone of Am. tennilo- 

 batns, are rich in cephalopods, of which the planulate 

 (Perisphinates) are the most numerous. In the railway 

 cut or on the opposite side of the river, in the vine- 

 yards of the Lagern (between Baden and Wettingen), 

 the following fossils, which are almost sure to be found, 

 will indicate the presence of this interesting zone : 

 Am. polyplocus, A. Lothari, A. iphicerjts, Rhynconella 

 lacnnosa, R. ti-iloboides, Cidaris coronala, &c. &c. 

 They are partly crowded with sponges. The highest 

 part of the mountain near Baden is formed by the 

 younger "Wellingerschichten," with flints and silicified 

 fossils. Some of the characteristic species are Am, 

 ezidoxus, A. miitabilis, RItabdocidaris maxima, which 

 reaches here the size of a cocoanut, Cidaris propinqiia. 



On the north side of the Lagern, between Baden 

 and Ehrendingen, most of the subdivisions from the 

 upper Trias to the upper Malm may be seen, but the 

 rocks being mostly covered by alluvium, it is not very 

 easy to find them. 



From Baden take rail to Brugg, where a stay of 

 two or three days should be made, to see some of the 

 most interesting localities of the Jura. 



Mount the Bruggerberg. The mountain is built 

 up of marine and freshwater molasse and conglome- 

 rates (Nagelflue). By the action of the water the soft 

 freshwater sandstones were removed, and large caves 

 were left of which the Bruderhcihle is the most re- 

 markable. Walk down to the village " Villnachern," 

 and take a boy as guide to the Kalofen, an extensive 

 quarry in the exceptionally reddish marine molasse, 

 where already the Romans used to break their mill- 

 stones, of which several broken pieces are still to 

 be seen. 



ON THE EGG OF RUMIA CRAT^GATA. 



IN his treatise, " Ueber die Micropyle und den 

 feinern Bau der Schalenhaut bei den Insek- 

 teneirern," Leuckart describes the general characters 

 of the eggs of Lepidoptera (p. 166), as follows :— 

 "The eggs of Lepidoptera are very generally of a 

 short and depressed (gedrungenen) more or less- 

 spherical form ; often also flattened at the hinder 

 end, by which they are attached (to leaves, twigs, 

 &c.), hemispherical or even lens-shaped. All 

 distinction between dorsal and ventral side is con- 

 stantly absent.* . . . The micropyle is always com- 

 plex : it consists of a variable number (mostly of 4-6) 

 canals, which radiate from a common central pit in 

 the anterior pole, through the investments of the egg. 



• " Ein Unterschied zwischen Riicken- und Bauchflache fehit 

 bestiindig." 



