HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



275 



the Tadpole of the Neict. The ckculatiou can be 

 seen in almost any part of tlie animal, but to best 

 advantage in the tail, and especially the gills. 

 There is one difficulty, however, in observing it, 

 owing to the continual motion of the animal. This 

 can be overcome in the following manner, which 

 although not new, may be so to many. Place the 

 subject in a small vessel of any kind, with about 

 enough water to cover it, and to this add a few 

 drops of hydrate of chloral (a saturated solution 

 in water). When the right quantity is used, it 

 generally takes a few minutes to render the animal 

 quiet, and it may then be placed in the slide or cage 

 with a little fresh water for examination. Care 

 must be observed not to use too much of the chloral, 

 or the subject will be killed ; but with judgment the 

 same animal may be used any number of times. It 

 should be placed in fresh cold water afterwards, 

 when resuscitation will take place. The newts can 

 be obtained in the autumn and kept through the 

 winter.— T/iOs. E. Saunders, ThiladelpUa, U.S. 



"Half-Houks with tee ^Microscope."— a 

 handsome new edition of this valuable little work 

 has just been published by Hardwicke, 192, Picca- 

 dilly, to which a " chapter on the Polariscope " has 

 been added by Mr. Fred. Kitton, of Norwich, 

 illustrated by a beautiful chrorao-lithograph plate 

 of the principal polariscopic objects. We need 

 hardly say that, with this useful addition, " Half- 

 Hours with the IMicroscope " may take its place 

 among the most useful, and certainly the cheapest, 

 works offered to the public. 



Mounting Dry Objects.— In books I have 

 seen on mounting objects for the microscope, I find 

 it recommended to place covers on slides with 

 forceps. I like to see such things done neatly and 

 truly centred, and will describe a simple and easy 

 way I have of putting on covers truly. In mount- 

 ing objects dry, I put a ring of asphalt varnish on 

 the under side of the cover, by sticking the cover 

 to a glass slide with water and putting it on a turn- 

 table ; when it is sticking, I put the slide on a 

 piece of wood 3 inches by 1 inch, and about 1 inch 

 thick, to raise it above the table, and holding the 

 glass, with the cover stuck to the under side, across 

 the slide, press the cover down carefully in the right 

 place, and fasten it with a clip till it is dry, when a 

 touch will easily detach the glass to which the cover 

 was just stuck. I make my piece of woodjwith pieces 

 cut out on the under side, so that when I put a glass 

 on the top I can hold it with elastic bands. Under 

 the glass, in mounting, I place a card 3 inches by 1 

 inch, with a hole punched out of the centre ; under 

 this hole I put blue, black, or white paper, to show 

 up the object, and assist in placing it truly : several 

 cards, with holes of different sizes, are useful— they 

 are easily made. — W. L. 



Oil op Cloves. — I have lately found this material 

 of service in the examination of some forms of 

 diatoms, especially where the valve has been too thick 

 for examination in a dry state. The high refractive 

 index of oil of cloves renders the fine markings much 

 more distinct than even hard Canada balsam ; 

 unfortunately, however, I fear that this medium 

 cannot be used for permanent mounting. — F. K. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The late Major Munn, P.E.H.S.— This emi- 

 nent bee-master has been removed from us by 

 death, which took place lately, at a ripe age, at his 

 residence, Churchill House, near Dover. At the 

 last meeting of the East Kent Natural History 

 Society, the hon. sec. (Professor Gulliver, F.R.S.) , 

 proposed, and Colonel Horsley seconded a motion, 

 which was cordially carried, that the high esteem 

 entertained by the Society of Major Muun's memory 

 be entered on the minutes, and communicated to 

 his widow. The loss to apiarian science generally, 

 and to the East Kent Natural History Society par- 

 ticularly, is one that will be long felt. Major 

 Munn's zeal and success in his favourite pursuit 

 were such as an enthusiast only could exercise and 

 attain. It has been often remarked that genius 

 generally partakes of a smack of enthusiasm ; and 

 Dr. Johnson asserted that the man who contrives 

 to do best what many men do well must command 

 respect. And thus viewed, the scientific character 

 of Major Munn will appear as respectable as his 

 moral character was amiable. His contributions 

 to the life-history of his favourite insect— the 

 Honey-bee, were as numerous as they were in- 

 teresting, and were all marked by the stamp of a 

 cultivated and active mind, and by the practical- 

 and useful nature of his observations. His addi- 

 tions to the late Dr. Bevan's work on the Honey- 

 bee (published by Van Voorst) are too well 

 known to require description ; but the surprising 

 knowledge possessed and practised by Major Munn 

 in the management and handling of bees was best 

 known to his most intimate acquaintances ; and his 

 sagacious familiarity with the points in the anatomy 

 and physiology which are most likely to advance 

 our knowledge of the recondite instincts and habits 

 of these important insects, was always remarkable. 

 Of this his many valuable communications to the 

 scientific meetings of the society afford abundant 

 evidence. And it is a melancholy fact that the last 

 public exhibition of his enthusiasm and zeal in 

 apiarian science occurred at a late scientific meet- 

 ing of this society. On that occasion he produced 

 such experimental proof as had never previously 

 appeared before any public meetuig, that the 

 Queen. Bee, though capable of injecting poison 

 with fatal effect into the breathing-apertures of 



