16 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-G O S S IP. 



bination of such glasses, and without condenser or 

 apparatus of any other kind, he can resolve all the 

 shells of the " Probe Platte " with ease. He 

 considers the light thus modified as good as the 

 more nearly monochromatic lights of the trouble- 

 some ammonio-sulphate cell. 



Mounting in Balsam (No. 96).— Mr. Kitton's 

 reputation as a microscopist is too well known to me 

 to permit me to gainsay his remarks on mounting in 

 balsam ; at the same time I have met with tolerable 

 success in mounting with fluid balsam, and I have 

 found that if carefully prepared with benzole it will, 

 in time, harden under the very centre of the covering 

 glass (of course, the larger the object and glass the 

 longer this will take) ; I have taken off the covering 

 glass of one or two duplicates in my cabinet to be as- 

 sured of the fact. Por my own part, I do not like using 

 chloroform, as I think it renders the balsam liable to 

 get cloudy. Dammar, I find, when old, is liable to 

 chip from the glass cover, or flake off from the slip ; 

 nevertheless it is very useful for objects that are 

 small. I have made many experiments in com- 

 pounding media, and have tried a vast quantity 

 made by others, and, after all, I have found that no 

 medium is so well suited to my general requirements 

 as balsam (of course, I do not include glycerine, or 

 some of the solutions which are absolutely necessary 

 for some classes of objects). In the end, is it not 

 probable that each would-be preparer of objects has 

 some pet method which he considers superior to any 

 other, and wiiich is rarely successful when adopted 

 by others ?--&. P.P. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Plinb SriDERS.— In the December number of 

 the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, the 

 llev. 0. P. Cambridge has described two new 

 species of spiders from Ceylon. They are perfectly 

 blind, and are found among decayed leaves. The 

 Cave spiders have long been known as eyeless, 

 having become blind through disuse of the eyes in 

 the course of many generations ; it is believed that 

 in this case it has been so through the spiders being 

 hidden from light under the decaying vegetable 

 matter. The name of Nydulops has been given to 

 the new genus. 



Insect Pests. — The worst enemies of the na- 

 turalist and taxidermist are two species of beetles, 

 the Bermestes and Atithrcemcs, which in their larval 

 state, in the form of worms covered with hairs, 

 commit great ravages wherever there is any animal 

 substance. The skins of birds and animals are 

 quite destroyed before their attacks are suspected. 

 The ligaments of small skeletons, horns, and hoofs 

 soon show the presence of these animals by the 



dust which falls from their gnawings. Whole col- 

 lections of insects are reduced to dust-heaps in spite 

 of camphor, tobacco, and similar substances. The 

 only way to kill them is by baking the specimens 

 which contain their eggs above 160° Pah., which 

 will coagulate the albumen and destroy them. To 

 prevent their attacks, skins and ligaments should 

 be thoroughly poisoned with arsenic, and insects 

 should be hermetically sealed. — Journal of Applied 

 Science. 



Scotch Peaels and Bridges.— It is a popular 

 theory in Scotland, that " the building of bridges 

 diminishes the number of pearls in the rivers." At 

 first sight this seems very much like making Ten- 

 terden steeple responsible for the existence of 

 Goodwin Sands ; but the naturalist finds a basis of 

 scientific truth in the apparent non sequitur. Be- 

 fore the bridges were built, the cattle in fording 

 the streams trod upon the mussels, and the injury 

 done to the shells caused the formation of pearls ; 

 but now that the cattle cross by the bridges, the 

 secretion of the pearls is no longer promoted in 

 that way. The peasant could observe the fact, 

 though he could not give the philosophy of it. 



John Keast Lord. — It is with much regret that 

 we have to announce the death of Mr. J. K. Lord, 

 one of our oldest and most esteemed contributors. 

 Some months ago Mr. Lord was laid up with a 

 severe attack of paralysis, which has resulted 

 fatally. In the Crimean war Mr. Lord served as 

 captain in the artillery, and took part in the battle 

 of Balaclava. Shortly after the close of the war 

 he spent some time in Vancouver's Island, the re- 

 sults of which he afterwards published in his 

 Naturalist in Vancouver's Island. He also acted 

 as naturalist in the North American Boundary 

 Commission. At the time of his death he was 

 manager of the Brigiiton Aquarium. 



The Young Hippopotamus. — At a recent meet- 

 ing of the Zoological Society of London, Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett read some notes on the birth of the hippo- 

 potamus which had been announced at the previous 

 meeting of the society. Mr. Bartlett called par- 

 ticular attention to the fact that on one occasion 

 the young one appeared to have remained under 

 water without coming to the surface to breathe for 

 nearly fifteen minutes, and also pointed out that 

 this was the first instance of the hippopotamus 

 suckling her young in captivity. 



How ARE Eels Bred ?— Aristotle says they are 

 bred from mud. Pliny believed that they rubbed 

 off portions of their bodies, and that these frag- 

 ments became perfect animals. Horsehair from a 

 stallion's tail when placed in water was (and per- 

 haps still is) believed] to produce them. Professor 

 Hunter made some beautiful drawings of the 



