Makch 1, 1867.] HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



53 



living) as well many additions throughout the whole 

 work, as also several Sculptures, never before 

 printed." Folio. London, 1677. 



" This noble Isle [Mauritius] as it is prodigal in 

 her water and wood, so she corresponds in what 

 else a fruitful Parent labours in : not only boasting 

 in that variety, but iu feathered creatures also ; yea, 

 in the rareness of that variety : I will name but 

 some, and first, the Dodo ; a Bird the Dutch call 

 Walghvogel or Dod Ersen : her body is round and 

 fat which occasions the slow pace or that her cor- 

 pulencie ; and so great as few of them weigh less 

 than fifty pound : meat it is with some, but better 

 to the eye than stomach ; such as only a strong ap- 

 petite can vanquish : but otherwise, through its 

 oyliness it cannot chuse but quickly cloy and 

 nauseate the stomach ; being indeed more pleasur- 

 able to look than feed upon. It is of a melancholy 

 visage, as sensible of Natures injury in framing so 

 massie a body to be directed by complemental wings, 

 such indeed as are unable to hoise her from the 

 ground, serving only to rank her amongst Birds : her 

 head is variously drest ; for one half is hooded with 

 down of a dark colour ; the other half, naked and of 

 a white hue, as if Lawn were drawn over it ; her 

 bill hooks and bends downwards, the thrill or 

 breathing place is in the midst, from which part to 

 the end, the colour is of a light green mixt with a 

 pale yellow ; her eyes are round and bright, and in- 

 stead of feathers has a most fine down ; her train 

 (like to a Chyna beard) is no more than three or four 

 short feathers : her leggs are thick and black ; her 

 tallons great ; her stomach firey, so as she can easily 

 digest stones; in that and shape not a little re- 

 sembling the Ostrich : The Dodo, Cacato or Parrat 

 and one of the Hens take so well as in my Table- 

 book I could draw them." 



This description is worthy of respect, inasmuch 

 as it is from the pen of a well-known old traveller, 

 who saw the ungainly bird in its native habitat; but 

 as for the " sculpture " of the male and female of 

 the species with which the garrulous baronet ac- 

 companies his text, one is compelled to add that, if 

 his drawing of the pair of Dodos resembles the 

 originals no more faithfully than that of the " Ca- 

 cato [cockatoo] or Parrat " resembles that well- 

 known bird, his pictorial memoranda from his " Table- 

 book " are a " world too wide " from nature to serve 

 any useful purpose. Henry Campkin. 



Reform Club. 



WoitK. — As in travelling so in thinking ; he who 

 has started must work with the means which he owns, 

 however small the stock may be. There is a time 

 for gathering such mental gear ; when it is gone, the 

 time comes for using engines or expedients. If 

 grammar, logic, and mathematics be mysteries, the 

 rule-of-thumb must serve their turn. — Frost and 

 Fire. 



PODUILE* 



have often been asked by friends interested 

 -*- in microscopical pursuits where Podura: 

 were to be obtained, and I myself was puzzled 

 over the problem once. Mr. Hogg's work on the 

 Microscope, and Dr. Carpenter's more elaborate 

 treatise, had sharpened my curiosity on the point, 

 and I regretted I did not count among my ac- 

 quaintances some one to whom I could apply for 

 the entree of a wine-cellar, there to put in practice 

 the plan recommended for the capture of these in- 

 sects by means of oatmeal and a basin — a plan 

 which I was led to think would produce abundant 

 results. Soon, at Smith and Beck's, I bought a 

 slide of the scales, and to my great disappointment 

 found I could not see them satisfactorily fin my 

 microscope. But there is no wonder in this, for 

 beginners are not usually furnished at the outset 

 with the best class of objectives, by means of which 

 alone can the markings on this microscopic test- 

 object be plainly seen.' 



Fig. 37. Podura, without scales ; common under stones. 



However, though I had obtained a slide of the- 

 scales, I wanted to see a living Podura. " Surely," 

 thought I, " if they are so common in cellars, there 

 is a chance of their being found in the lower regions 

 of the house in which I live." So I took a candle, 

 and commenced a search on the outside of a beer- 

 barrel. Peering into its seams, I soon discovered 

 in these localities, and on the wall, tiny creatures of 

 a leaden hue, with purplish reflections in those parts 

 where the light chiefly played. "Can these be 



* Read at the Quekett Microscopical Club, Nov. 23, 1866. 



