208 



HARD Wl CKE 'S SCIENCE ■ G OS SIP. 



nected with the subject I am dealing -with. On 

 Tuesday, May 22nd, I caught, in an old wine- 

 cellar, which is quite dark and I'ather damp, a very 

 large black-looking house spider. I at once put him 

 in the above-described bottle and left him. Judge of 

 my surprise to find, on inspection the following 

 morning, that instead of being dead, he was alive 

 and very lively ; and at this present moment, Friday, 

 May 25th, he appears inside the bottle as lively as 

 ever ! The bottle is air-tight, and the laurel very 

 strong. On Sunday a large house spider placed in it 

 was perfectly dead in fifteen minutes. My idea is 

 that the gentleman now incarcerated must be of a 

 poisonous class, and therefore imjjervious to prussic 

 acid or anything else. Let me advise my readers 

 who are going to mount spider preparations, to dissect, 

 as quickly as possible after death, the bodies of the 

 spiders they have captured ; for, if kept long, they 

 shrivel up, and become very difficult to manipulate. 

 The dissection of a spider is by no means difficult, as 

 those objects which the microscopist desires are all 

 external, so to speak, and visible to the naked eye. 

 Place the spider on your dissecting-board, and pin it 

 down ; then with a pair of sharp, fine scissors remove 

 the eight legs, and put them aside ; next with a scal- 

 pel cut off the spinnerets, which are to be found 

 at the extremity of the abdomen, and are four in 

 number. Then remove the maxilla; ; and lastly, cut 

 away the mandibles, if possible, with eyes attached. 

 This plan of mounting the eyes and mandibles I have 

 found to be highly satisfactory in every way. Having 

 carefully dissected all the parts, put them in a galli- 

 pot, and pour liquor potassee upon them. The best 

 jars are those which Liebig's extract of meat is sold 

 in. In about three to six days, take the preparations 

 from the liquor potassce, and place them in a saucer 

 full of distilled water, and Tijell wash ; then press be- 

 tween two pieces of thin glass, the spinnerets ex- 

 cepted ; and then wash again, always using a camel's- 

 hair brush to cleanse the specimens with. Dry the 

 specimens on clean blotting-paper, and then place in 

 another gallipot full of spirits of turpentine. In a day 

 or two you may mount. You must be careful that the 

 mandibles and eyes are fairly flat, and that the jaws 

 are not gaping too much apart : the novice will find 

 this difficult of attainment ; but, persevered in, good 

 results will be obtained. In mounting the feet and 

 legs, see that the combs of each foot are clear and 

 distinct. The maxillce are not particularly interest- 

 ing, but should be mounted together. Be careful not 

 to flatten the spinnerets by pressure. The best fluid 

 for mounting in is damar ; but if there can be found 

 such a wonder as a microscopist who ignores its 

 utility, why, then let him use Canada balsam. Thus, 

 in a very brief manner, I have noted the chief things 

 to be observed in mounting specimens of arachnida ; 

 and I certainly think they make good specimens for 

 the cabinet. What with those who preserve spiders 

 whole, and those who mount for microscopical re- 



search, certainly the fair Lydian maiden's descend- 

 ants, of fabulous record, are thought a little about, 

 and also studied, in this age of learning and improve- 

 ment — the nineteenth century. — C.F. W. T.JVilliains, 

 Bristol. 



Structure of the Red Corpuscles of the 

 Blood. — It has long been a vexed question whether 

 the nucleus of the red corpuscle may not be a mere 

 coagulation after death, and not an entity within the 

 living corpuscle. The former opinion is maintained 

 by Professor Savory and other eminent physiologists, 

 and the latter view is that of Professor Gulliver, who 

 founds on it his two great sections, Pyrencemata and 

 Apyrenremata, of the vertebrate sub-kingdom of 

 animals. In a late number of Science-Gossip, Mr. 

 W. H. Hammond, of Milton Chapel, is reported 

 to have proved the existence of the nucleus in the 

 living red blood-corpuscle of fish ; and at the last 

 meeting of the East Kent Natural History Society 

 he read a paper, illustrated by numerous drawings, 

 on the same corpuscles of birds and batrachians, in 

 which he concluded that the nucleus also really exists, 

 and is plainly demonstrable, in the living animal. 

 For observing the circulation in the bird, Mr. Ham- 

 mond used the foot-web of young ducks, which he 

 found, in the newly-hatched bird, sufficiently trans- 

 parent to admit of the use of deep objectives ; and 

 this would appear to be a novel and interesting 

 addition to cur means of viewing the course of the 

 blood, and the form of the corpuscles, in a class of 

 vertebrates but rarely, if ever, before subjected to 

 this kind of experimental examination. Mr. Ham- 

 mond's paper, with the necessary details, will pro- 

 bably appear in a forthcoming number of the MontJily 

 IMicroscopical Journal, 



ZOOLOGY. 



Spiders and their Weus. — In Science- 

 Gossip, some time ago, the question was asked. Why 

 do spiders make webs in dark corners of closets 

 which are seldom opened, so that there can be no 

 flics in them? ]My idea is — (i) Spiders are not de- 

 signed to walk comfortably except on lines of their 

 own spinning, and therefore make webs for their own 

 convenience ; (2) They need homes for themselves 

 and their eggs, and therefore construct them of a 

 material most readily accessible ; (3) Perhaps there is 

 a supply of web-material for which some outlet must 

 be found, so that if they do not want to construct 

 webs for the purpose of catching flies, they get rid of 

 the surplus by making a mass of cobweb in out-of- 

 the-way places. These webs are, as a rule, irregular 

 masses, not constructed with .that skill and evident 

 economy of material that is seen in the fly-catching 

 web. — S. IJorsley, Travancore. 



