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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



■previous year, the falling-ofF was common to all 

 provinces, except the Central Provinces, Coorg, and 

 Berar. The most remarkable decrease occurred under 

 the heading "other animals" in the Madras presi- 

 dency, the figures for 1879 and 18S0 having been 

 2,956 and 139, respectively. The number of snakes 

 shown as destroyed was 211,775, ^s compared with 

 131,927 in the previous year, the increase being 

 mainly due to the very large number (177,070) of 

 snakes which were killed in the Bombay presidency. 

 The total amount of rewards paid for the destruction 

 of snakes was Rs. 11,663, as compared with Rs. 7,663 

 in the previous year. It is chiefly in towns and 

 villages that the destruction of snakes is desirable, and 

 for this reason it is satisfactory to observe that so many 

 municipalities are now beginning to offer rewards. 

 These results are not regarded as satisfactory, because 

 the falling-off in the number of wild animals killed 

 has been accompanied by an increase in the destruc- 

 tion of men and cattle. The Government of India 

 attributes this to the operation of the Arms Act, 

 although the reports assert that licenses are freely 

 granted in tracts where wild animals abound. 



Provincial Museums. — A thoughtful and sug- 

 gestive paper on "The Functions of a Provincial 

 Museum " has just been read before the Chichester 

 and West Sussex Natural History and Microscopical 

 Society, by the Rev. H. Housman. 



A Parasite from the Centipede. — In the few 

 books on microscopic objects to which I have access, 

 I have not been able to find any drawing of or re- 

 ference to a parasite which I discovered on a centipede. 



Fig. 17. — Parasite of Centipede (X 60). 



I secured a centipede which was found under a flower 

 pot in my garden, intending to mount portions of 

 him for the microscope, and as a preliminary I put him 

 "" to steep " in an ointment pot with some liqtLor potasscc. 

 I did this without in any way examining him. On 

 the following day I uncovered the pot to have a look 

 at the centipede, when I was surprised to find twenty 

 or thirty minute dots floating on the solution of potash, 

 two or three of which were removed and put under a 

 microscope with a power of forty diameters. The 



dots proved to be parasites, of one of which I subjoin 

 a drawing made with a neutral tinted glass. I 

 allowed the rest of the parasites to steep, as they are 

 hard, and have high convex backs. They might 

 appropriately be called turtle backed. The subse- 

 quent process I adopted for mounting them pretty 

 nearly ruined them ! Pressure, even after maceration 

 for several days in the potash, split the upper and 

 lower "shells'' of the parasite, either transversely or 

 at the sides where they are joined by thinner mem- 

 branes. There can be little doubt that if they could 

 be mounted without pressure they would show to 

 advantage. Owing to the prolonged maceration to 

 which I subjected them, first in potash and then in 

 turpentine, I have been unable to make anything of 

 the mouth of the creatures, and I fear their general 

 structure has been more or less injured. The parasite 

 from which my drawing was made is the best pre- 

 served of the seven or eight that I mounted. I 

 enclose a small packet in which you will find some 

 unmounted specimens, but as these were in potash and 

 were cleaned and dried at the same time with the 

 objects I mounted, they too will probably not be found 

 perfect, I shall be glad to be furnished with any 

 information or references on the subject.- — W. S. 

 Simmons {Calcutta). 



Natural History, &c., of Jersey.— We hope 

 to resume Mr. E. Lovett's interesting papers on this 

 subject in our next number, 



Thalassidroma Pelagica. — During the stormy 

 weather on the south coast on the 28th of November 

 last, a stormy petrel, or Mother Carey's chicken, as 

 they are styled by some, was driven in and took 

 refuge on the West Pier at Brighton, and being much 

 exhausted was easily captured. Another one was 

 also caught on some oyster-beds at Southwick, near 

 Brighton, and has since been forwarded to the Dyke 

 Road Museum at Brighton. The above occurrences 

 prove the severity of the late gales, and it may be 

 interesting to some of your readers to hear of them. 

 —F.F. 



Dredging in the Mediterranean. — The good 

 work in zoological exploration dons with the French 

 Government vessel Le Travailleur last year was fol- 

 lowed up this year by another expedition in the same 

 vessel, which, well equipped at Rochefort, left that 

 place on June 9, and after a seventy days' cruise in the 

 Atlantic and Mediterranean, returned on August 9. 

 The expedition was organised by M. H. Milne- 

 Edwards, and the naturalists who embarked were MM. 

 A. Milne-Edwards, De Folin (editor of the journal Les 

 Fondsde la Mer) and Fischer, and Professors Vaillant, 

 Perrier, and Marion. From a short account of what 

 was done in the Mediterranean, we learn that part of 

 June and the whole of July were devoted to explor- 

 ing the deeper parts of that sea (largely unknown 

 hitherto). The general result arrived at is that the 



