HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



41 



with, from a'copy of a seal of tl:e borough of Liver- 

 pool, of , early .date (circ. 1350), appears to supply 

 the'information requested. The device is the Eagle 

 of St. John, the label.held in its foot being inscribed 

 with the name Iohes. , In the beak is a conven- 

 tional leaf or flower, which T believe is copied as a 

 seaweed in the recent rendering of the bird. If the 

 original is^uot much_like a living bird, it will still 



MICROSCOPY. 



Tjest Scales. — In answer to your correspondent 

 " S. L. B." I can assure him that the " test scale " 

 to which he refers is obtained from Lepidocyrtus, 

 and from an insect, eutomologically speaking, exactly 

 coinciding with L. curvicollis. I can also assure him 

 that no amount of age will develop the " test 



Fig. 32. Ancient Seal of the Borough of Liverpool (circa 135C). 



be found to retain so intermediate a position' be- 

 tween the natural and heraldic forms as to require 

 but'a very small stretch of imagination on the part 

 of " Inquirer " to trace the descent. 1 am aware 

 that to account for the name of the town an imagi- 

 nary bird, the Liver, has been suggested, and the 

 Cormorant and Ibis have been severally assumed 

 to be the prototype of the Liver. But the Cormo- 

 rant is too common a bird to have attracted atten- 

 tion there; and the occurrence of the Ibis cannot, 

 I fear, be proved to have been observed in either 

 Lancashire or Cheshire. — T. G. Bayfield. 



The Liver (p. 22).— The bird figured in the 

 armorial bearings of the town of Liverpool, accord- 

 ing to Burke, is a cormorant, holding " in his beak 

 a sprig of laver, vert." The word " laver " is a 

 common synonym for " ze^-wrack" but most gene- 

 rally applied to the " Porphyra," a genus of seaweed 

 sometimes prepared as a condiment ; but the green 

 laver (vert) is Ulva latissima, a species of algce with 

 very large fronds. I have no doubt that this (aver, 

 taken with reference to the "Porphyra," has ori- 

 ginated the idea of a /?fer-coloured bird, that finds 

 such favour with certain etymologists ; but it is 

 hardly fair to argue seriously about heraldic animals. 

 The cockatrice, the dragon, and the wyvern have 

 long since been consigned to the regions of fable ; 

 and the real royal Li-Ver, whether we may suppose 

 it should resemble a cormorant, a crane, or a heron, 

 is equally fanciful.— Jf. Hall. 



scale " upon the ordinary L. cnrvicoUis. The habi- 

 tats of the two insects are different ; I have found 

 both, and last autumn mounted a large num- 

 ber of "test scales," any of which will, I doubt 

 not, convince "S. L. B." that they are not of the 

 ordinary YmA.— Joseph Beck. 



Eecent Fokmation of Flint.- In a sounding 

 made by Capt. J. Perry, of Liverpool, at Porto 

 Seguro, Brazil, mixed with some rare and curious 

 diatomaceous forms, may be found several species 

 of Poraminif'era and Entomostraca. The addition of 

 nitric acid for the purpose of cleaning and preparing 

 this material for mounting has brought to light the 

 very interesting fact, that many of the chambers of 

 the shells of the Foraminifera, and, in some cases, 

 the carapaces of Entomostraca, were filled with 

 silex, bearing considerable resemblance to or- 

 dinary flint. The recent siliceous casts of Fora- 

 minifera hitherto detected have all been of a dark 

 green colour, resembling the foraminiferous casts 

 found in the greensand. Tlie forms found in the 

 Porto Seguro material were Orbitolites, Miliola, 

 and Rotalina.— i^. K. 



Eels in Paste.— In the absence of other forms 

 of microscopic life during the chill, dark days of 

 winter, the young microscopist will find both in- 

 struction and amusement in studying the develop- 

 ment of the so-called "paste-eds" ; and the fol- 

 lowing hints as to the method of obtaining them 



