HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



231 



existence, either for its beauty or else for its pecu- 

 liarity of construction. 



The eggs are opaque, of a greenish-white colour, 

 and oval in form. Tlie outside shell or envelope is 

 perfectly smooth and free from any sculptured 

 forms, which are so prevalent in some of the ova of 

 the butterflies, as, for example, in those of the small 

 Cabbage White (P. Rcrpa) and tlie small Tortoise- 

 shell {F. Urtica). The eggs are laid by the female 

 moth in April and May, on the food-plants of the 

 larvse. 



The caterpillar first appears at the end of June, 

 and may be found from July to September. The 

 segments are very plainly divided. In colour this 

 caterpillar is a delicate pea-green, each segment 

 having a broad band of black adorned with pink 

 tubercles, each of which emits a few short hairs. It 

 feeds upon apple, willow, and heath, and spins a 

 brown cocoon among its food-plant in September. 



This cocoon may be found all through the winter 

 spun up among the twigs of its food-plant, or else 

 on the ground underneath, having been broken from 

 its support by rough weather. It is quite unique in 

 its construction. One end is formed of very stiff 

 hairs all converging to a point, and outside this is a 

 loose woolly envelope or cocoon ; so that while the 

 moth, when it emerges, can easily crawl out, no 

 other insect can get iu. 



The pupa or chrysalis is squat-shaped, the seg- 

 ments of the abdomen much divided : the wings, 

 eyes, antenna;, and legs all very plainly marked iu 

 the outer shell. 



The moth first emerges about the middle of April, 

 and may be found till the end of May. The males, 

 which fly very swiftly, are smaller than the females, 

 but much more brightly coloured : upper wings 

 marked with beautiful variety of blacks, browns, 

 and reddish-browns, with an eye-like spot in each 

 wing ; under wing a rich orange-colour, marked 

 with shades of brown and eye-spot in each wing, 

 which the surrounding colour shows up to great 

 advantage. The ground colour of the female is soft 

 pearly - grey, marked with shades of black and 

 brown, with eye-spot iu each wing. The life of 

 these moths, unfortunately, is very short, the 

 longest I have been able to keep one alive being 

 not more than two weeks. The females die almost 

 directly after depositing the eggs wliich are to form 

 the next generation. IClaude Ryan. 



MICROSCOPY. 



MiCKOscopic Marvels.— We have been favoured 

 with the sight of some remarkable specimens of 

 microscopic manipulation. Most of our readers are 

 acquainted with the slides of arranged diatoms 

 prepared by MoUer. These slides are, however, 

 not arranged diatoms, but butterfly-scales, arranged 



in various designs. One of the most beautiful re- 

 presents two fronds of a fern, resembling a ceterach, 

 the pinnules composed of brilliant green scales : 

 the lower portion of the stem consists of brown 

 scales. Hovering near are two butterflies. The body 

 is represented by a long brown scale, the upper 

 wings by two blue, and the lower by a pale brown 

 scale. In another slide, the scales are arranged so 

 as to form a group of flowers. These microscopic 

 wonders are prepared by Mr. Dalton, jun., and we 

 believe may be obtained through his father, Mr. R. 

 Dalton, of Bury St. Edmunds.— P, K. 



Wood Sections.— Those of our readers who are 

 in the habit of mounting sections of wood have, 

 no doubt, often been annoyed by their unsatisfac- 

 tory appearance when mounted in balsam or damar. 

 This is frequently the case, if the sections are (as 

 they ought to be) cut very thin. The indistinctness 

 when mounted in balsam may be avoided by dry 

 mounting, but then their opacity renders them 

 unavailable for use with high powers. The indistinct- 

 ness of balsam-mounted specimens may be over- 

 come by staining the sections, and for that purpose 

 Judson's dyes will be found very useful. We have 

 found the best effects are produced by magenta and 

 mauve. One drop of the dye to about ten of dis- 

 tilled water will be found to give sufficient intensity 

 of colour to the section. The section may be 

 allowed to remain in the dye for several hours, and 

 if the colour is too dark, it should be placed in 

 spirits of wine : this will alter the tint to any 

 degree of paleness. When the staining is complete, 

 the section should be well washed in distilled water, 

 and dried under pressure ; then soaked in turpen- 

 tine, and mounted in balsam or damar. — F. K. 



BOTANY. 



Resurrection Plant. — The botanical name of 

 this interesting plant is Selagiiiella lepidophijUa, and 

 as it is a club-moss, of course bears no flowers. 

 It is a native of California, Mexico, and Peru, and 

 with one or two allied lycopods, may occasionally 

 be seen in our gardens. In a recent number of the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle (August 10, 1S72), there is an 

 engraving of this singular plant, with dissections, 

 and a description from the pen of Mr. Thomas 

 Moore.— F'.G'.aS'. 



LiTTORELLA LACusTRis.— Mr. Hind records this 

 plant (last observed growing iu Middlesex in 1S05) 

 as having been gathered in July in Ruislip reser- 

 voir. He thinks that many other plants supposed 

 to be extinct in the country are not really so, but 

 that either they have not been noticed, or are 

 awaiting the happy combination of circumstances 

 requisite to their appearance. 



