138 



HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIF. 



Mr. J, F. Jenner-Weir, the well known entomo- 

 logist, has a capital paper in the last number of the 

 " Entomologist," entitled " The significance of 

 occasional and apparently unimportant markings in 

 Lepidoptera." He . thinks that some of them are 

 vestiges of spots and other markings which were 

 much more vivid in their ancestors, and therefore 

 that such markings may contribute towards the 

 phylogeny of genera. 



We call the attention of our readers to Professor 

 Marshall's address delivered before the Birmingham 

 Natural History and Microscopical Society on 

 "Animal Pedigrees," which appears in the May 

 number of the " Midland Naturalist." 



Among the many valuable papers on natural 

 history we get from the United States are the 

 periodical issues of Dr. Riley's, '* Insect Life," devoted 

 to the economy and life-habits of insects, especially 

 in their relations to Agriculture. 



Parts Twelve and Thirteen of Wallace'si" British 

 Cage-birds " (London : L. Upcott Gill) maintain the 

 high artistic character of the preceding parts. 



" The Conchologist " is the title of a new 

 quarterly journal, price ninepence, devoted ex- 

 clusively to conchology and molluscology. As our 

 readers are aware, this subject has grown considerably 

 beyond the bounds formerly assigned to it, and is now 

 an important contributor to the facts of practical 

 evolution. This new journal is edited by Mr. W. E. 

 Collinge. The first number looks well and promises 

 well. 



The Liverpool scientists are plucky people. They 

 did not like their hightly readable and excellently 

 edited "Research" being given up, so they have 

 started another journal on pretty much the same 

 lines, entitled "Discovery." It is published at 

 threepence monthly. No. 5 is to hand, containing 

 papers relating chiefly to economic science. 



We heartily comment, to all those whom it may 

 concern, the last Report of the Manchester Museum 

 (Owen College), issued by order of the Council. 



A MOST useful and highly important pamphlet has 

 been issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

 ' ' The Pediculi and Maleophaga affecting Man and 

 the Lower Animals," by Professor H. Osborn. It 

 is illustrated by forty-two of the parasites whose life- 

 histories are described. 



The Whit-week excursion of the members of the 

 Geologists' Association this year was to the 

 neighbourhood of Northampton, under the able 

 leadership of Mr. Beeby Thompson, F.G.S., and 

 Mr. W. D. Crick. Among the places visited were 

 Wooton (Great Oolite, Inferior Oolite, and Upper 

 Lias), Hopping Hill (basement-beds of Great Oolite 



limestone and Upper Estuarine beds). New Duston 

 (Inferior Oolite), Kislingbury, Bugbrook (Middle 

 Lias, &c.), Stowe-Nine-Churches (Great and Inferior 

 Oolites), Heyford, Upton, Old Duston, Vigo,. 

 Shittlewell, Kingthorpe (Lower Estuarine sands and 

 plant-bed) Pitsford, Spratten, Baughten, Moulten,. 

 &c. 



MICROSCOPY. 



A Microscopical Puzzle. — I was examining a 

 glass slide under my microscope, containing some 

 sections of the green berry of Tatnus communis, which 

 I preserved in 1889, by placing the specimens in 

 gum-arabic between two glass slips. I now perceive- 

 many small ovoid transparent bodies, several were 

 larger than the rest and could move slowly from place 

 to place. What is the name and the cause of their 

 appearance ? Could they have come with gum- 

 arabic ? They do not seem to damage the specimen 

 in the least, although they must certainly eat some- 

 thing. They are about one-sixth of an inch long^ 

 when magnified forty diameters. This specimen is- 

 quite dry. — Henry E. Griset. 



Mounting Corallines for the Microscope. — 

 In answer to this query in No. 316 of SciENCE-GossiP.. 

 I beg to inform your correspondent jvnd others 

 interested in the study of fresh and salt-water 

 Microfauna of a very reliable method of mounting 

 Hydrozoa with all parts fully and naturally expanded. 

 I have applied it particularly to Rotifers, Infusoria,, 

 and Hydrae, and can recommend it "where all other 

 means have failed." It is best to place a few twigs of 

 the fresh corallines containing living specimens into a 

 very deep watchglass placed upon black paper, with, 

 very little of the water they have developed in. 

 Allow all the animals to expand, and examine with a 

 pocket-lens, if necessary, to ascertain when this has 

 taken place. Then with a pipette add to the water 

 in the watchglass a few drops of chloroform water. 

 As soon as this is felt by the hydrozoa they draw in 

 their tentacles, etc. However, if not too much of 

 the anaesthetic has been given, and a little time 

 allowed for it to evaporate, they will re-expand all 

 their parts, at first only partly, but ultimately to 

 their original extent. If rotifers are treated thus, the 

 reviving of the individuals can be noticed by the 

 drowsy motion of a few isolated cilia which begin 

 their play again, at first very slowly, but gradually 

 more and more vigorously. This stage is not the 

 least interesting part of the experiment ; it wili 

 enable the attentive observer to watch with greater 

 ease every motion of the minute animals, take 

 sketches of, and even photograph them. The treat- 

 ment with chloroform water must necessarily be 

 repeated by every one who makes the experiment for 

 the first time, to let him know how often the hydrozoa 

 will stand the effects of chloroform, and to give hina 



