HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



turtle is sighted deep down in the water, the front 

 piece of string is withdrawn, and plenty of slack is 

 allowed for the tall string. As soon as the sucking- 

 fish spots the turtle, after swimming round it, it 

 attaches itself to the reptile's carapace. Then a man 

 with a long rope attached to his arm, dives into the 

 water, and is guided to the turtle by the line which 

 had been fastened to the sucker's tail. As soon as 

 he reaches the turtle he gets on its back, passes his 

 arms behind and below its fore-flappers, and draws 

 up his legs in front and below the creature's hind- 

 flappers. In this position he is rapidly drawn up to 

 the surface, of course bringing the turtle with him. 

 It is as good as a chapter of "Alice in Wonderland." 

 On the arrival of the intrepid diver at the surface, 

 the sucking-fish changes its position from the turtle's 

 back to its plastron, from back to front. Then, Mr. 

 Haddon tells us, after the gaper, or sucking-fish, has 

 done its work in turtle-catching, it is eaten. That is 

 thoroughly human. Nevertheless, he informs us, 

 that the natives have a "great respect" for the 

 gaper. 



We have received an interesting paper on the 

 " Evidences of the Antiquity of Man in Leicester- 

 shire " by Montagu Browne, F.G.S., Curator of the 

 Town Museum, Leicester. The paper consists of four 

 divisions. In the first, dealing principally with bone 

 and horn, mention is made of a wattled well dis- 

 covered in Leicester about fourteen feet below the 

 surface of the ground, which, as our author shows, 

 had most probably an origin long before the Romans 

 occupied the site. The rest of the paper describes 

 the implements, &c., found in the well, and on the 

 various ground-surfaces above, and others found in 

 the neighbourhood. Thus the second chapter deals 

 of pottery, the third of bronze, horse-trappings, &c., 

 and the fourth of stone implements, such as hammer- 

 stones, or pestles, and querns. The most important 

 remains are figured by the Collo-type process. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Quekett Club.— The January number of 

 "The Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club" 

 contains the following papers:— "On the Structure 

 of the Valve of Pleurosigma," by T. F. Smith ; " On 

 the Formation of Diatom Structure," and " Some 

 Observations on the Human Spermatozoon," by 

 E. M. Nelson; "On some Remarkable Coccids 

 from British Guiana," by S. J. M'Intire; "Notes 

 on Mounting Diatomaces?," liy H. Morland ; " On 

 Pcrophora Lister i," and " On Lininias cormiella" by 

 C. Rousselet. 



Preparing Coffee-Bean for Sections.— Mr. 

 J.'s failure in preparing a coffee-bean for section- 

 cutting by soaking in water, is probably due to his 

 neglecting to destroy its vitality. This may be 



effected by soaking in methylated spirit, or in a 

 one-per-cent. solution of chromic acid in water, and 

 then it may be prepared as Dr. Marsh recommends. 

 — Ernest O. JShyers, Hotmslorv. 



"The Journal of Microscopy " for January is 

 to hand. The following are the most important 

 papers:— "The Nutritive Processes in Saccharo- 

 myces," by Henry C. A. Vine (illustrated) ; "Micro- 

 scopical Imagery," by Dr. Royston-Pigott (illus- 

 trated) ; " Spider Gossip," by H. Vl. J. Underbill 

 (illustrated); "Development of the Tadpole," by 

 J. W. Gatehouse, Part v. (illustrated); "The Mam- 

 malia: Extinct Species and Surviving Forms," by 

 Mrs. Alice Bodington (illustrated), besides an abun- 

 dance of interesting notes, &c. 



Folliculina Boltoni.— I am pleased to say I 

 have found this curious and interesting infusorian 

 this month (Feb. i) in fairly considerable numbers in 

 a pool in the suburbs of Birmingham. Named after 

 the late Mr. T. Bolton, its original discoverer, it 

 seems to have been so seldom seen at any micro- 

 scopical society's meetings, that I am very pleased to 

 again come across it; its rarity possibly is more 

 apparent than real. I have only found it once before, 

 and then only one. No doubt its extreme timidity 

 has something to do with its so seldom being seen by 

 any one. I can only get it to show itself by patiently 

 waiting, and allowing it to stand a time in the trough 

 in which I have placed it. It is easily mistaken when 

 retracted for a platycola, but when once it appears 

 its identity is plainly manifest. It is interesting from 

 the fact of its being our only freshwater representative 

 (so far) of the folUculinas, all the others being marine 

 forms ; it much resembles also Freia elegans, only its 

 peristomal lobes are unequal, one lobe, the left, 

 being about twice the size of the other; also in 

 F. Boltoni the lip of the lorica is even, not everted. 

 Saville Kent's figure hardly does it full justice, I fancy. 

 I have examined about twenty specimens, and none of 

 them fully represent his sketch. They are repre- 

 sented by Kent as .^ in. in length, but my specimens 

 measured rather more by the micrometer and crossed 

 line ocular. It comes out well by good dark-ground 

 illumination with a J-in. objective ; I think you see 

 (in this case) rather more detail than by direct light. 

 —E. IT. IV., Edgbaston, Birmingham. 



New Automatic Regulator.— Mr. J. H. 

 Steward, 406 Strand, London, has brought out a 

 new small-size automatic regulator for use with the 

 limelight. As will be seen by illustration, it is fitted 

 with a cap, cylindrical in form, and inside this is an 

 indiarubber bellows, fitted top and bottom to metal 

 discs, the upper one being acted on by a spiral spring, 

 and the lower attached to a pair of lazy levers con- 

 nected to eccentrics that open and close valve of 

 cylinder. W^hen the bellows is full, the opening from 

 valve of cylinder is closed, and, when partly or wholly 



