68 



HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



members. The secretaries are Messrs. II. S. Wil- 

 liams and S. F. Emmons, Washington. 



Mr. E. H. Hankin, of St. John's College, 

 Cambridge, is said to have discovered a cure for 

 anthrax, to the study of which disease he has devoted 

 himself many years. He based his investigations 

 upon the principle of lymph inoculation, which Dr. 

 Koch has so successfully applied in the case of 

 tuberculosis. The glycerine extract in Mr. Hankin's 

 process is precipitated with alcohol and re-dissolved 

 in water. The experiment has been repeated on a 

 number of subjects with gratifying success. This 

 discovery derives additional interest from the fact 

 that anthrax is not the only disease from which rats 

 (the spleen of which animal produces the protective 

 proteid) enjoy immunity. 



A French chemist, according to the "Daily 

 News" of February nth, claims to have discovered 

 the true process of photographing in correct colours. 



We are glad to see that the " Oological Expedi- 

 tion " to the Shetland Isles, projected in Birmingham, 

 will not be allowed to take place. The question 

 came up in Parliament on February 17th. Vandalism 

 of this kind ought to have no mercy shown it. 



We are sorry to record the death of an old contri- 

 butor to our columns in Dr. 11. B. Brady, F.R.S., 

 &c., of Newcastle. Dr. Brady was distinguished for 

 his large and specialistic knowledge of the Forami- 

 nifera, and Fossil and recent, on which he wrote 

 several monographs, including the two superb quarto 

 vols, on the Foraminifera of the "Challenger" 

 expedition. He died at the comparatively early age 

 of55- 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Vertical Camera. —Referring to a note I 

 sent you about the use of the Vertical camera, I 

 have received a letter from Messrs. Beck giving me 

 full instructions. It only came to hand by last mail, 

 and I see from it that the use of a slope is what they 

 recommend. This I did not know when I wrote to 

 you, and a notice in an old number of the " American 

 Monthly Microscopical Journal " (on the distortion, 

 apparently irremediable, incidental to one of the 

 American forms of camera) rather served to mislead 

 me. There is nothing new in the slope, and if you 

 have not already consigned my note to the waste 

 paper basket, pray do so. — JV. y. Simmons, Calcutta. 



The Quekett Microscopical Club. — The 

 January number of the Journal of this well-known 

 club contains the following papers : — " On the Vibra- 

 tile Tags of Asplanchna," by C. Rousselet ; " On the 

 Stridulating Organs of Cystoaelia Floridic,'^ by R. T. 

 Lewis ; " On the Reproductive Organs of some of 



the Floridse," by T. H. Buffham ; "On Lacinularia^ 

 and a New Rotifer from Guildford," by G. Weitern ; 

 " On a New Diatom from the Estuary of the Thames," 

 by W. H. Shrubsole ; "Note on Dhiops longipes" 

 by C. Rousselet ; " On the Human Spermatozoa," 

 by E. M. Nelson, &c. The plates are numerous and 

 good. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Mimicry of Mantis. — An insect which is- 

 not uncommon in India is a medium-sized mantis,, 

 between three and four inches in total length. It :s 

 one of those mantises which have a long slender 

 thorax, and which, owing to the second and third, 

 pairs of legs being very long, carry their thorax and 

 head very high. In this insect the thorax is about 

 half its entire length, and is of a bright grass- 

 green colour without any markings, and it obviously 

 mimics a grass stem. The abdomen is also some- 

 what slender, "the wing-covers are of a grass-green 

 colour, without markings, and it obviously mimics 

 a grass blade. But in both these cases the mimicry 

 is obvious, as also the reason for it, and it is not 

 what I wish to call attention to. The first joint of 

 the fore-legs is widened and flattened ; it is also 

 green, and the posterior surface is marked with a 

 large ocellus. When the insect is undisturbed it 

 remains generally in one place, but is not perfectly 

 motionless ; it sways perpetually and uniformly from 

 side to side. In this position it looks very harmless, 

 but if it is startled or alarmed its aspect instantly 

 changes ; it partly opens the wings, turns its head 

 and thorax so as to face the terrifying object, makes 

 a noise like a sudden, sharp puff of wind, very like 

 the noise made by a startled snake, and raises its 

 fore-legs so that the first joint lies along the thorax, 

 and the inside margin of the expansion being nearly 

 straight, it looks as if the fore-legs and thorax were 

 connected. In this position the ocelli are very con- 

 spicuous, and with the small, triangular head, and 

 the slender thorax, the effect is to produce a ludicrous 

 resemblance to a diminutive cobra. Now, what 

 puzzles me is this exact resemblance. The insect 

 could not possibly be taken for a cobra on account of 

 its small size and green colour ; while if the object is 

 only to appear formidable it could have been obtained 

 without imitating a cobra so exactly. It may be 

 suggested that there is no direct imitation, but that 

 the same causes which have led to the development 

 of the eye-spots in the cobra have also led to the 

 development of ocelli in this insect, viz., that the 

 apparent possession of a large head gives the animal 

 more formidable appearance ; but this explanation is 

 apparently negatived by the pecular noise made by 

 the insect, which certainly seems to indicate that a 

 snake is imitated. I'ossibly the object of the noise is 

 to suggest that it is some kind of snake, and then the 



