i84 



HARD WICKE ' S S CIE NCR- G O SSIF. 



subject 'is treated in a very interesting manner. 

 Copies may be obtained on application to the Editor, 

 "Naturalist's Gazette," Ram Street, Birmingham, 



post free, 2^d. 



London botanists were much exercised all last 

 month by the flowering ol Amorphophallus titamim, of 

 which a sketch appeared in the " Illustrated London 

 News" for July 6th. This plant belongs to that 

 singular, widespread, and altogether remarkable 

 order Aroideoe, and the specimen in question came 

 from Sumatra, that fragment of an ancient Indian 

 peninsula ; it and Java are the homes of Rafflesia 

 and other singular freaks of nature. The botanical 

 Old Lady has been on the spree in those big 

 islands for millions of years past. It is little good 

 bringing any of the specimens produced there to the 

 bar of common-place botanical opinion. You have 

 to take them as you find them. Amorphophallus was 

 discovered eleven years ago in Sumatra, and seeds of 

 it were brought over to Europe. These have been 

 raised both at Florence and Kew. In Sumatra the 

 leaf-stalk of this remarkable plant measures ten feet in 

 height, and is three feet in circumference. The spath 

 is thrown up from the tuber at a different period. 

 The flower of this remarkable plant stands nearly 

 six feet high. 



Mr. J. R. B. Masefield has compiled an ex- 

 cellent "List of the Land and Freshwater Moilusca 

 of North Staffordshire." 



The " Report of the Botanical Exchange Club of 

 the British Isles for 1888" has just been published. 

 The "Report of the Distribution" is by Mr. G. C. 

 Druce, F.L.S. This is the fullest record hitherto 

 issued by the Society, and will be welcomed by all 

 genuine botanists throughout the kingdom. 



The "Long Excursion" of the Geologists' Asso- 

 ciation this year will be to North-West Cumberland 

 and the Eden Valley district, from August 5th to 

 JOth. An excursion to the volcanic regions of Italy 

 and the islands, under the leadership of Dr. Johnston- 

 Lavis, Professor Silvestri, and many others, is planned 

 to begin on September 30th at Naples, and to last 

 over a month. 



MICROSCOPY. 



" Carpenter on the Microscope."— The cor- 

 respondent who sent us the paragraph which appeared 

 in page 139 of our June number, to the effect that 

 Dr. Dallinger and Mr. John Mayall, jun., were the 

 ioint editors of the new edition of Carpenter, appears 

 to have been misinformed. Dr. Dallinger is the only 

 editor. 



A New Cell.— Mr. C. H. H. Walker, of Liver- 

 pool, has brought out a new cell for large mounts. 



They are rectangular in shape, and are made of one 

 standard size, i \ in. by 1'^. They are also made with 

 three sides only for use as live troughs, &c. The 

 thickness varies from rjj in. to ^'^ in. ; if a deeper cell 

 be required, two or more can be cemented together. 

 Mr. Walker has hit on a happy thought in bringing 

 out these cells. 



Mr. a. C. Cole's New Slides. — We have just 

 received a new series of slides from this well-known 

 microscopist, which are of much importance to 

 physiological workers in that they present them with 

 a new method of staining tissues, and particularly 

 nervous structures. This method is strikingly brought 

 out by the slide showing sections of the lumbar and 

 dorsal region of the human spinal cord in four colours. 

 This new stain is particularly effective for micro- 

 photography, as is proved by another slide mounting 

 a transverse section of the left median human nerve. 

 The other slides, mounted with the new staining, are 

 very interesting : — Transverse section through the 

 spinal cord and stomach of a snake, showing a semi- 

 devoured lizard, and also section of the lizard's spinal 

 cord ; section through the cervical region of snake, 

 showing spinal cord, oesophagus, &c. ; and an effective 

 mount (for microscopic purposes) giving vertical and 

 horizontal sections of the human scalp, showing the 

 hair follicles, &c. 



New Educational Slides.— We have received 

 a l)Ox of slides from Mr. H. P. Aylward, 164 Oxford 

 Street, Manchester, illustrating the structure of the 

 vegetable kingdom in such a way that students of 

 structures will find half their difficulties gone if they 

 obtain a set. The dicotyledonous division of plants 

 is illustrated by twelve slides of plant-structures of 

 all sorts, and the monocotyledons and cryptogams 

 by the same number. The short paper accompanying 

 the box gives references to various authors, and 

 where the structures are described. The objects 

 themselves are beautifully mounted, and altogether 

 it is a pleasure to recommend this cleverly got-up 

 series. 



New Slides. — From Mr. H. Meller, Stockport 

 Road, Manchester, we have received three remark- 

 able slides of objects : one, a transverse section of a 

 tadpole's eye ; a second, a similar section of the 

 embryo of a rat, through the thorax and fore limbs ; 

 and the third, the section of the chick, two days old. 



Diatoms. — Last summer two of us resolved to 

 have a run to the West Highlands, and a walk up 

 and down the hills and glens of the Island of Skye. 

 At the geological questions and the Crofter questions, 

 wliich are being fought out there, and which are 

 likely to be settled about the same time, we indulged 

 in an interested, if not supremely intelligent, look. 

 As the worlds of science and politics, however, are 

 likely to hear enough of these without any of us, we 

 seek not here to waste time and space by gossiping 



