ISO 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



and well filled with their refractive matter, varied 

 from a rich topaz to a pale sherry tint, and they 

 glittered like jewels when well lit up. Empty 

 cells rudely resembled a mushroom in form, with a 

 stout stem and a round head marked with a cross, 

 but the texture did not look in the least fungoid, 

 nor could any mycelium he detected or the leaves. 

 The author details a series of observations on leaves 

 of many varieties of Coleus, and in all stages of 

 growth, and has come to the conclusion that these 

 supposed parasitic growths are in reality only glan- 

 dular hairs, similar to those on Mentha viridis (gar- 

 den mint), &c. Dr. Braithwaite suggested that they 

 might contain the matter producing the foetid odour 

 possessed by the Coleus plants. — Monthly Microsco- 

 pical Journal, Part XIII. 



Our readers, particularly those interested in the 

 Diutomaccsc and Desmidecc, will learn with regret 

 the death of M. Louis Alphonse de Brebisson, 

 of Falaise, and formerly Councillor-General of 

 Calvados. He was author of various papers on the 

 Diatomacese, &c., and was member of many 

 scientific societies. Of late years he devoted him- 

 self almost entirely to the study of the Diatomacese^ 

 and was one of the very few, perhaps the only 

 Frenchman, who made those organisms the subject of 

 really scientific investigation. He was always ready 

 to impart any information or gatherings to those in- 

 terested in the simpler forms of vegetable life, as the 

 acknowledgments of Kiitzing, ]labenhorst, llalfs. 

 Smith, and others testify. The writer of this notice 

 would also record his obligations to him for the 

 frequent supply cf specimens and material. He 

 departed this life at his residence, on the 25th day 

 of April, in the 74th year of his age.— i^. K. 



Drum of the Ear of the Frog. — Mr. C. 

 Baker, of Holborn, has just published some trans, 

 parent injected preparations of this organ. These 

 slides, besides exhibiting the ramifications of the 

 capillaries, admirably display the pigment-cells ; 

 the cartilaginous structure is also well defined 

 when the object is examined by polarized light. A 

 paper on the organs of hearing in frogs, by Dr. C. 

 Hesse, of VViirzburg, wnll he found in Siebold and 

 KoUiker's "Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoo- 

 logie," Part III. 



Dr. Beale's formula for the preparation of the 

 carmine solution is as follows -.—Ten grains of car- 

 mine in small fragments are to be placed in a test- 

 tube, and half a drachm of sti-ong liquor ammonite 

 added by agitation, and the heat of a spirit-lamp , 

 the carmine is soon dissolved, and the liquid, after 

 boiling a few seconds, is to be allowed to cool. 

 After the lapse of an hour, much of the excess of 

 ammonia will have escaped. The solution is then to 

 be mixed with 2 oz. of distilled water, 2 oz. of gly- 

 cerine, J oz. of alcohol. The whole may be passed 



through a^filter or allowed to stand for some time ; 

 the perfectly clear supernatant fluid may be poured 

 ofi^ and kept for use. 



I do' not think it is generally known to micro- 

 scopists that the addition of a little gum camphor 

 to the parafine-oil in the microscope lamps burnin-' 

 that fluid is a very great improvement. About 

 fifteen grains of camphor, put into an ordiuary- 

 sized lamp, about one hour before using, will cause 

 the lamp to give a far more intense and brilliantly 

 white light than the parafine-oil alone would give. 

 — John A. Perry, Liverpool. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Blind Fishes.— Is the Typhlichthys viviparous ? 

 Such would appear to be the case from the " im- 

 portant fact" alluded to on page 88.— i^. /. //'., 

 Winchester. 



New Lopiioid Fish.— In the May number of 

 the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," 

 Dr. Liitken describes a new Lophoid fish, under 

 the name of Oneirodes Eschrichtii. It comes fronr 

 high northern latitudes, off the coasts of Greenland, 

 and from a great depth of water, probably abyssal. 

 It is distinct, however, from an allied deep-sea 

 Lophoid found near Madeira. The mouth is hori- 

 zontal, and the whole fish is remarkably smooth and 

 rounded. Its total length is only eight inches. It 

 is very rare, and from this circumstance and the 

 depth it comes from, very probably it has a long- 

 extended antiquity, and its allies may be looked for 

 among fossil forms. 



Notes of a Cowcatcher Ride through 

 Nebraska.— It was our good fortune to have a 

 special train from the Platte river to Omaha, and 

 as the novelty of riding in the cabin of the loco - 

 motive had long since worn off, the cowcatcher" 

 was next resorted to, and with results that had not 

 been anticipated. Sitting carelessly on the beam 

 that supports the iron framework, " nursing one 

 leg," I was suddenly struck in the face by a small 

 object, that decidedly made an impression ; others 

 came in quick succession, and before I could solve 

 the problem, a large grasshopper {Edijmla IlaUh- 

 manni, Scudd.) struck my boot, glaaced and rolled 

 into my lap. Having no bottle at hand, I imme- 

 diately secured it in a leaf from a railroad land 

 document that had been handed to me, and placed 

 it in my pocket. By this time we were running 

 at forty miles an hour, and grasshoppers pelted us 

 like driving sleet. They seemed to fl[y or jump up 



* A contrivance, as its name implies, for throwing off the 

 line any cattle or other animals which may have strayed upon 

 it; a very common case on those lines which are not fenced 

 in, but simply laid across tlie extensive plains.— Ed. S.-G. 



