HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



257 



*' Investigation of Variation." Mr. Carrington 

 advocates the establishment of a properly-constituted 

 association for the study of variation in the Animal 

 Kingdom. 



We are sorry to record the death of Dr. Royston- 

 Pigott, M.D., F.R.S., &c., the eminent microscopist, 

 ■&C., on September 14th, at Eastbourne. It will be 

 remembered that the deceased gentleman did good 

 work in the improvement of microscope objectives, 

 in recognition of which he was in 1873 elected 

 Fellow of the Royal Society. 



On September 14th, Dr. J. E. Taylor delivered 

 an open air lecture to the Essex Field Club at 

 Walton-on-the-Naze, subject : " The Red Crag, its 

 fossils, derivative and indigenous." Lectures by the 

 same lecturer were delivered in October at Hitcham, 

 on " The Circulation of Waters Underground ; " at 

 Bildeston, on "The Story of a Flint Pebble;" and 

 at Framlingham, on " Coal," 



Dr. Charles Galloway's reprints of his two 

 interesting papers from the Quarterly Journal of the 

 Geological Society are as follows : — " On the Produc- 

 tion of Secondary Minerals at Shear Zones in the 

 Crystalline Rocks of the Malvern Hills ; " and from the 

 Geological Magazine, " On the Present State of the 

 Archaean Controversy in Britain." 



The last number of the Proceedings of the 

 Geologists' Association contains the following papers : 

 "A Visit to the Volcanoes of Italy," by Professor 

 J. F. Blake ; " Note on a Chelonian Humerus from 

 the Middle Eocene of Brocklesham," by R. Lydekker 

 (Illustrated) ; " On the Rocks from the Saas-Thral and 

 Geneva," by Captain Marshall Hall ; " Notes on 

 Early References to Geology, mostly before 1800," 

 by E. Lichfield ; " The Artificial Unmaking of 

 Flints," by T. Hay Wilson; "The Geology of 

 Upton and Chilton, in Berks," by A. J. Jukes Brown 

 (Illustrated) ; " On the Estuary of the Thames and 

 its Alluvium," by F. C. J. Sparrell (Illustrated), 



, Messrs. William Wesley & Son's Catalogue 

 No. 97 contains a number of valuable books on the 

 following subjects— Ichthyology, Reptilia and Am- 

 phibia, General Zoology, Anatomy, &c. No. 4 of 

 "The Optical Magic-Lantern Journal and Photo- 

 graphic Enlarger " is full ;of interesting matter for 

 those who take an interest in Magic-Lanterns and 

 Photography. 



Professor Geikie sends us a copy of his 

 Presidential Address, read before the Geological 

 Section of the British Association meeting at New- 

 castle. This address will long be remembered as 

 perhaps the most useful synopsis of the question of 

 Glacial Geology. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Colour OF Birds' Eggs. — As Mr. Nunnhad 

 declared that he was unwilling to enter into con- 

 troversy on this subject, I was somewhat surprised to 

 see another and lengthier article from his pen in your 

 September number. As he himself declares, his 

 observations on the eggs of blackbirds are not 

 productive of any very satisfactory results in favour of 

 the theory he advanced so confidently, and the truth 

 of which I had the presumption to doubt. In Mr. 

 Nunn's article we find six instances in which the 

 colour and fertility were both noted. In the first case, 

 two eggs are light, and two darker, but all are 

 infertile. In the second, three are dark and one 

 lighter, and there is one infertile egg, but we are not 

 told whether this was light or dark. Next we have a 

 three clutch, one egg being light coloured, but all are 

 fertile, a similar occurrence being recorded for April 

 20th. After this we have an instance in which three 

 light eggs are fertile, and the fourth, very dark, is 

 infertile. Lastly, in a sixth clutch the two abnormal 

 eggs are fertile, and the addled egg turns up amongst 

 the normal ones, just where, according to Mr. Nunn's 

 theory, it would be least expected to be found. 

 These six instances, I venture to maintain, all tend to 

 prove that Mr. Nunn's theory has been founded on 

 rather too hasty generalisation, and that however 

 much " trouble he has taken to investigate," he has 

 evidently taken but little in collating and drawing 

 inferences from his facts. The subject is well worth 

 paying attention to, as the reason for the varied 

 colours of eggs has still to he found, and I for one 

 would be heartily pleased should Mr. Nunn succeed 

 in solving the problem, but he must have patience 

 with those who are led to opposite conclusions to 

 himself, until he is able to demonstrate clearly some 

 probability of his deductions being correct.— y. A. 

 Wheldon^ York. 



Vandal-Naturalists. — The practice of egg- 

 " clutching," a very appropriate name for this mode 

 of collecting, is I think, never sufficiently to be 

 condemned. The " clutcher," and the "pot" or 

 hedgerow shot seem to me to stand on a par with 

 each other, and combine to render the rarer species 

 of British birds practically extinct. I cannot see 

 anything in Mr. Nunn's notes to support clutching ; 

 the argument is filled with a desire for some- 

 thing better than is possessed by your neighbour, 

 a larger show, a greater number, something that 

 others have not. "Eggs are eggs," says Mr. Blagg, 

 and what difference is there, may I ask, between half- 

 a-dozen eggs of the song-thrush or hedge-sparrow, 

 and one thousand complete clutches, for any scientific 

 purpose? There is a sufficient likeness in all, and 

 the same may be said of the eggs of half the birds in 

 the British list. I know that an assortment of six or 

 even twelve eggs gives an air of completeness to a 



