HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



135 



objects into them ; when you have charged the cells 

 with the objects, float or rather slide your thin covers 

 on them as fast as you charge them, supplying water 

 to them with your pippet as required : by following 

 these instructions the enclosure of air bubbles will be 

 avoided ; when completed, fill your reservoir ; apply 

 the syphon, and replace slide cover ; then place the 

 slide upon a stand of sufficient height to permit of a 

 receiving vessel being placed under the paper as 

 marked F in Fig. 96, and your work of setting up is 

 completed. 



I have a stand on which I keep two other slides, 

 which are supplied from a reservoir which is unat- 

 tached to either except by the syphons ; the reservoir 

 being supplied from an ordinary oil-flask, the neck of 

 which is allowed to pass down into the reservoir, and 

 which by a little arrangement supplies the water as 

 fast as it is drawn off by the syphons. Here, perhaps, 

 I had better explain the arrangement, which is as 

 follows : I have a cork in which I have a very fine 

 notch cut lengthways, running itself out as it reaches 

 the largest end ; then I have a piece of small glass 

 tubing passing through the centre of the cork, and 

 projecting from each end of it about 5 of an inch at 

 the end of the tube which enters the reservoir when 

 the flask is inverted, at about \ of an inch from this 

 end of the tube I have a notch filed into the tube 

 which will admit the air when above the surface of 

 the water, and thereby promote a down flow of water 

 when required. This arrangenient I find does very 

 well. 



In conclusion, I would suggest that on the cover of 

 the slide a strip of paper should be pasted with the 

 cells on slide definitely numbered ; this is to facilitate 

 the record in note-book of the transitional changes 

 observed in each cell as they take place, for after all 

 the most practical and efficient apparatus will be of 

 little value unless such observations be registered for 

 future reference. 



The great inducement which has led me to bring 

 this matter before your numerous readers is the fact 

 that I am personally indebted for much pleasure and 

 instruction to the self-sacrifice and disinterested 

 labours of others, and I would like to emulate them, 

 though it be in ever so small degree. 



A. T. DOWELL. 



Stroud, Gloucestershire, 



THE BEAVER PRESERVE IN THE ISLAND 

 OF BUTE. 



IN December 1879, whilst staying at Rothesay, I 

 paid a visit to the Beaver preserve belonging to 

 the ]\Iarquis of Bute. The place selected for the 

 experiment of beaver-breeding is a part of a narrow 

 strip of fir plantation where it is crossed by a small 

 burn, which rises in the moor above, and flows by 

 Kingarth to Kilchattan Bay. When I reached the 



spot, I met *' the keeper," an elderly working man, 

 whom I found very obliging and intelligent, and 

 agreeably communicative on the subject of his charge. 

 He was a crofter as his father had been before him, 

 living and labouring on the three acres of ground 

 attached to his dwelling. He informed me that some 

 years previously the Marquis had four beavers, 

 and had them enclosed, but two of them died in 

 confinement, and the others having found their way 

 out of the enclosure were traced to some distance 

 and at last found dead, one on the moor and the 

 other near Mount Stewart House, about two miles 

 off. The keeper, although he did not hold office at 

 that time, had watched the animals when they were 

 alive, and, being unable to work much on account of 

 rheumatism, had given some attention to their habits. 

 The Marquis afterwards suggested that he might act 

 as keeper to a fresh lot ; and this having been settled, 

 another batch of eight beavers was ordered fronij 

 America. Only four, however, survived the journey. 

 This was in 1875. 



When, in the company of my guide, Thad reached the 

 preserve, and had stepped over an iron railing two 

 feet and a half high, which forms the enclosure fence, 

 I was introduced to "Jack," a splendid specimen of 

 the porcupine, who had a wooden kennel and a 

 special iron railing to himself. By opening the 

 roof of the kennel we roused up " Jack," and 

 persuaded him to go out to his little courtyard for 

 some exercise. Here he munched a potato or two 

 with evident relish, and when touched or disturbed in 

 any way, he raised his quills, as a turkey cock 

 elevates his tail, and stalked about in a high state of 

 excitement. He repeated this threatening manoeuvre 

 whenever I made any sudden movement, at the same 

 time giving two or three "stamps " with one of his 

 hind feet on the wooden floor. He seemed to be in 

 a chronic state of irritability. 



But to the beavers : commencing at the north or 

 upper end of the burn and enclosed space, the first 

 thing that attracted my attention was the great 

 number of felled trees, which to all appearance had' 

 been cut by chopping with an axe. Every felled 

 tree, too, was lying either across the burn or with its 

 top pointing towards it. Along the course of the 

 burn there were five or six small dams formed by 

 weirs built apparently of branches and twigs, and so 

 covered with sticks that it was not easy to see at first 

 how the water was kept from running through instead 

 of over them. Many of the felled trees were lying 

 on the weirs or resting against them, forming sui?- 

 porting buttresses, and nearly all of them had been 

 stripped of their bark, the inner part of which is 

 used by the beavers for food. In most cases a foot or 

 two of the lower part of the trunks had been left 

 untouched, sometimes on account of its toughness, 

 and occasionally because the lower end, having been 

 tilted up in falling, could not be easily reached by the 

 beavers. The lowest and principal dam is the chef- 



