HARD WI CKE 'S S CIE NCE - G OS. SI P. 



7i 



same side is another ordeal-tree, not quite so well 

 known, but included in the same order, Texicaphlaa 

 Thtinbe?-gi a native of South Africa. Its leaves are 

 opposite, elliptical, and of a very dark green colour ; 

 it is now showing an abundance of small white flowers 

 in axillary clusters. A decoction of the bark is used 

 by the Hottentots as an ordeal.— Lewis Castle, West 

 Kensington Park. 



Metropolitan Association. — At the monthly 

 meeting held on January 28, the following papers 

 were read — " On the Dissection of the Cockroach," 

 by T. J. Briant. The main object of this paper was 

 to show the proper method to be adopted in micro- 

 scopic dissection, more especially by those who could 

 not afford time for technical investigations. — "On 

 Micro-photography," by C. W. Stidstone. Examples 

 of the author's work were shown upon the screen, 

 some of them being very creditable. — "The Cuticles 

 •of Flowers," by Sidney Ireland. — " On Reproduction 

 in the Lesser Celandine," by Henry T. Vivian. The 

 author remarked that in the spring of last year he 

 brought for examination from the neighbourhood of 

 Isleworth a few flowers of this plant ; they were 

 placed in water exposed to the light, and he was 

 enabled to observe the very interesting mode in which 

 the young plants of this species were produced. The 

 flowers, to the stalks of which one or two leaves were 

 attached, soon decayed, but singularly enough there 

 were produced what appeared white grains at the 

 axils of the leaves which increased in size as the 

 plant decayed and then fell off and remained at the 

 bottom of the jar. At the end of the year .they 

 appeared to be budding and at present had become 

 the tuberous roots of young plants, such as were then 

 exhibited on the table. This circumstance did not 

 appear to be noticed in the botanical works to which 

 the author had access, but he found the process 

 described in a book just published by Shirley Hibbert. 

 It appeared this plant never produced seeds in this 

 climate, though perfectly fitted to do so, as all the 

 organs of fructification were complete. The fact of 

 the plant flowering in the wet weather might perhaps 

 account for the non-production of seed, but it was 

 interesting to note that another form of reproduction 

 took place when it could not be accomplished in the 

 usual mode.— "On the Horse-Bot," by J. W. 

 Goodinge, F.R.M.S. This paper was simply a 

 general introduction to the noble series of slides 

 which were exhibited under several microscopes. 



Bougainvilleaz>. Bugainvillea. — The apparent 

 inconsistency in the orthography of the above word, 

 observed by Mr. John Gibbs, admits of an easy ex- 

 planation. The latter was adopted by Lindley as the 

 best Latin rendering of the French name. The long 

 ii nearly represents the sound of the French diphthong 

 ou, pronounced 00, which does not occur in the 

 Latin language. As regards the first and generally 

 accepted orthography, we find in ' ' Laws of Nomen- 

 clature," by M. Alphonse de Candolle, received by 

 the International Botanical Congress, 1867, as "the 

 best guide for nomenclature in the vegetable king- 

 dom," that article 27 states, "when the name of a 

 genus and sub-genus or section is taken from the 

 name of a person the spelling of the syllables is pre- 

 served without alteration even with letters or diphthongs 

 now employed in certain languages, but not in Latin." 

 Mr. Gibbs will find some excellent remarks on this 

 subject in Science-Gossip, 1877, page 193. — L. 

 Castle. 



Curious effect with the Microphone. — I do 

 not know whether any one has observed the following 

 curious effect with the microphone. Placing the 



receiving telephone on the stand of the microphone, 

 so that the vibrating disk is near the carbon pencil, 

 I find that a slight touch on the microphone produces 

 a continuous musical note, which sounds on till stopped 

 by a rougher touch, or by tapping the table. I used 

 an upright carbon microphone. — F. R. 



Laburnum. — In this town there is a laburnum 

 which flowers regularly twice a year, at the usual 

 time and again in the autumn ; the flower pendants 

 are shorter, and the flowers closer together than in 

 the ordinary laburnum, a specimen of which grows in 

 the same garden. Would B. H. Nesbit Browne state 

 whether the same peculiarity exists or not in the 

 specimen he has seen ? — IV. G. Tuxford. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip a week earlier than heretofore, we 

 cannot possibly insert in the following number any communi- 

 cations which reach us later than the 9th of the previous 

 month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



R. Beer. — The stories of vipers swallowing their young, are 

 to be found in every work on natural history. In years past, 

 our Notes and Queries columns have chronicled many such. 



J. W. T. — Your papers will certainly appear on the first 

 opportunity. We should be glad to accept that you now refer to. 



K. E. Gamp.—" Blue John" is a fluate of lime, not manga- 

 nese. Oxide of manganese is the violet colouring matter of it. 

 The mineral is very soft, and can be easily polished after cutting 

 and rubbing down. The method of polishing fossil wood depends 

 on how the latter is mineralised. If silicified, it is first cut and 

 ground down, and then polished with emery, the finest kind 

 being used last. 



C. R. S. — We cannot tell you how to get an assistant-curator- 

 ship in a colonial or other museum, except by advertising for 

 such a situation. 



B. C. J. (Leeds). — See the Rev. J. C. Crombie's article on 

 lichens, in " Collecting and Preserving Natural History Objects," 

 price is. 6d. Hardwicke & Bogue, 192 Piccadilly, London, W. 



R. Ratcliife. — The brown objects found underneath the 

 beetle are the beetle-mite [Gamasus coieoptratonnti). 



Micro. — The anchor-shaped spicules mounted on slides are 

 undoubtedly those of sponges. The coloured spicules appear 

 to belong to some Alcyonidium. Please send us one or two 

 other slides when you mount them, that we may investigate 

 them further. 



J. A. Sanford (Toledo, Ohio, U.S.) — Wishes botanists who 

 are desirous of exchanging rare British for American plants, to 

 communicate with him as per above address. 



H. J. Livett. — The grubs which attacked your celery were 

 evidently the larva? of some beetle, but they reached us in such 

 a dried-up and shrivelled condition, that it was quite impossible 

 to make out the species. Watering growing celery with chamber 

 lye is a capital stimulant to the plant, and an equally bad one 

 for grubs of all kinds. 



W. E. M. — The article on "Collecting and Preserving " is 

 the best one we know of on the subject of cleaning and preparing 

 bones. There is a great dearth of information on the subject, 

 and we should be glad if some of our readers who have worked 

 at it would contribute a good practical paper on the subject. 



J. C. Raye. — The articles on ".Our Common British Fossils, 

 and where to find them," will be resumed in our May number, 

 and continued. Press of literary work has delayed their issue. 



Dr. M. — The objects on the piece of sea-weed were a colony 

 of polyzoa. called M ' embranifiora membranacea. 



C. W. L. — The New Cross Microscopical and Natural 

 History Society, meets at the New Public Hall, Lewisham 

 High Road. 



R. Humphrey. — Our correspondence is too extensive to 

 permit us acknowledging by letter the receipt and acceptance 

 of every MS. sent. If accepted, we insert it in the order of its 

 date, as far as we possibly can. No apology is needed on your 

 part. 



J. E. M.— Wishes to know if " Heywood's Register of Facts 

 and Occurrences relating to Literature, Science and Art" is still 

 in existence. Perhaps some of our correspondents can answer 

 him. 



H. Sissons. — We are obliged, in the general interests of other 



