HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GO SSIP. 



207 



bis bill so delicately ! closing his eyes all the while 

 in mesmeric bliss. 



Now he is promoted to a large wire-built place 

 under the trees in the garden, next to the bantam- 

 pen. He eyed his fellow-pets at first with great 

 interest, but soon made up his miud that they were 

 too big to eat, and lived in most harmonious terms 

 with them, until one day, when, seeing them enjoy 

 a dish of earth-worms which he claimed for his own 

 dessert, he suddenly pounced down among them 

 with his sharp claws on their backs, and, as the 

 Yorkshire people say, "squandered them" in all 

 directions. Alas ! one foul sin stains Owlos's soul, 

 though I fear it does not lie heavy on his con- 

 science ! One morning we found him, shortly after 

 a hatch of sweet little white French bantams had 

 taken place, with a snowy chick in his cruel paw. 

 We hung it, for an albatross, around his neck ; but 

 Owlos refused all signs of contrition — so he was 

 wired off from his feathered cousins for ever. 



Very early in life he, like "Pharaoh," tried to get 

 into his jam-pot; so a huge bath was provided him, 

 and now his delight is on warm mornings to splash 

 himself all over (he is very modest in the act, and 

 shuns all curious watchers), coming out a laughable 

 caricature of a drowned rat — shrunk, bedraggled, 

 and unrecognizable, like Barham's jackdaw under a 

 curse, — a mere section of his former plump hand- 

 some self. Some prying village children one day 

 witnessed the ceremony, and exclaimed "Look, 

 look ; her's a washing hisself ! " when his disgust 

 at the murdered Queen's English was unmistak- 

 able, for he cracked at them, and retreated pre- 

 cipitately. 



Another owl comes from the woods, and sits on a 

 thickly-ivied tree near him. The stranger gives a 

 soft, rippling " Who-o-o-o," and Owlos answers 

 with a scream ; so we call the pair " Bubble and 

 Squeak." He calls to me as soon as my step is 

 heard in the garden, and whenever he has broken a 

 saucer or knocked his tin dinner-plate over his 

 table, he has always told me a long tale all about it, 

 in such a concerned tone of voice ! Would that he 

 could speak ! if only in the ancient Welsh tongue 

 of his native county, which musically calls him 

 "Dyllhuan." 



He is beautifully coloured and marked ; his head 

 and back are of a rich oak-brown, curiously mottled; 

 what ladies would call his under petticoats ai"e of a 

 delicate fawn; his breast cream-colour, and this, 

 together with his wings, is flecked with white in 

 downward lines, in such distinct patches as to have 

 the appearance of white body-colour paint. A 

 beautiful crimson line surrounds his orb-like black 

 eyes, and the -variety of feathers about his face is 

 quite indescribable, his very eyelids being covered 

 with them, and all of that peculiar downy texture, 

 each single lamina standing loosely out from the 

 shaft, which enables the owl to fly so noiselessly at 



night— coming down on its prey like a veritable 

 flake of snow. 



I will sum up my Owlos's biography by saying 

 that he has just celebrated his second birthday by a 

 supper of beefsteak aii, naturely wath snail fixings. 

 The butcher always insists on spelling his name 

 with an H in the weekly bill of provisions, a deli- 

 cate allusion, I conceive, to the days of Ethelbert 

 and Oifa, when my pet's forefathers mingled their 

 nightly cries with the howls of the wolves, in this 

 ancient Welsh province of Menevia. W. E. 



MICEOSCOPY. 



QuEKETT Microscopical Club. — The Seventh 

 Annual Meeting was held at University College, 

 July 2Gth, 1872, Dr. Lionel S. Beale, E.R.S., &c., 

 President, in the chair. The report of the com- 

 mittee, read by the Secretary, congratulated the 

 members upon the continued success and satisfac- 

 tory condition of the club, detailed its progress 

 during the past year, showed the number of dona- 

 tions made to the library and cabinet, also the num- 

 ber of members on the list ; and referred to the pub- 

 lication of the catalogues of the slides and books, the 

 Quarterly Journal, the Field Excursions, the Annual 

 Soiree, and the special services rendered by certain 

 gentlemen named. The Treasurer's report showed 

 a satisfactory balance-sheet, from which it ap- 

 peared that the income from all sources had been 

 £272. 5s. Id., and that there was a balance in hand 

 of £12. 7s. 2d. Unanimous votes of thanks were 

 passed to the Council of University College for the 

 highly valued privilege of meeting in the library of 

 that building free of charge ; to the President for 

 his valuable services during his two years' term of 

 office; and to ^ the Committee for their efficient 

 conduct of affairs. The President then read the 

 Annual Address, which was listened to with marked 

 attention, and enthusiastically applauded by the 

 meeting. The proceedings terminated with the 

 election of officers, and the installation of Dr. E. 

 Braithwaite, F.L.S., F.R.M.S., as President of the 

 Club for the ensuing year.— -K. T. L. 



On Cleaning and Mounting Foeaminifera. — 

 When the specimens of foraminifera are small, it is 

 best to treat them as follows : — Dry the mass, then 

 place it under the microscope, and pick out the 

 foraaiinifera with a split bristle placed in a holder, 

 or a very fine camel-hair brush. Sometimes the 

 brushes are required so fine that all the bristles, 

 except one or two, may be cut away. After the 

 objects wanted have been picked out, they may be 

 placed in a test-tube (see Science- Gossip for 

 August, 1872), and boiled in diluted potash. If 

 the foraminifera require to be mounted dry, Mr. 

 Davies says no better way can be adopted than dry 

 cells and gum. (ForTuU directions' see " The Pre- 



