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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 136S. 



during the interregnum of the tribe. Freshly- 

 gathered and undecayed specimens sbould be 

 selected for the frying-pan, sliced with the usual 

 accompaniments, and removed the instant they 

 become soft and dark coloured. Whilst on the 

 subject of Fungi, I may as well add that I have 

 found the following an easy and useful way of 

 preserving the spores, and autographing to a certain 

 extent the shape and justaposition of the gills. I 

 place a piece of gummed paper (white, drab, or 

 black, in reverse of the expected colour of the 

 deposit) in a damp place (a box with a wet sponge 

 tu it will do in summer), until it has become sticky 

 and relaxed in texture. I then lay the cap, gills 

 downward, upon it, as usually directed, not allowing 

 it to remain too long, and when the specimens are 

 removed, and the paper dried, I have a fixed and 

 indelible impression for future reference. When 

 required for microscopic investigation by trans- 

 mitted light, the gum (which should be the best 

 white, sold in powder) should be spread on collo- 

 dio7iized glass, instead of paper, and a second coat- 

 ing of collodion poured upon the dry impression. 

 The double film with the intervening spores may 

 then be separated from the glass when dry, and 

 packed in a very small space. I do not know 

 if collodion has been used in this way before, but 

 I can strongly recommend it for extempore pre- 

 servation of small dry objects for the microscope as 

 an economy of time' and space.—/. Aubrey Clark, 

 Street, Somerset. 



MICROSCOPY. 



. Objects.— I am acquainted with several micro- 

 copic objects, of which I have never seen any notice, 

 which only require mention to become general 

 favourites. One of these is the transverse section 

 of Laburnum wood. This is the most beautiful 

 wood section 1 have ever seen, and one of the most 

 beautiful objects, I regret my inability to make a 

 satisfactory sketch, although, as the prettiness 

 depends as much on colour as anything else, this is 

 of less moment. When mounted in balsam, without 

 previous soaking in turpentine, the different shades of 

 colour, from red and yellow to palest amber, inter- 

 mixed with browns, is very pleasing. Peculiar eye- 

 like spots of resin arc mottled all over it, giving it 

 a character of its own. The cells also show great 

 variety, both of shape and size. I am persuaded 

 that this object would be considered a gem in 

 almost any collection of objects. Another object is 

 the hair from a species of caterpillar, which three 

 summers ago was very plentiful in Brompton 

 Cemetery, and on the trees surrounding Christ 

 Church, Chelsea. Its name I do not know ; but on 

 its back there were four tussocks of hair, much 

 resembling that of the humble bee, and its tail con- 



sisted of a much larger tussock of entirely different 

 hair. This tail hair is the object I would draw 

 attention to. It is branched from the roots, but at 

 the end the stem thickens, and the branches become 

 longer, giving it a shape generally resembling a 

 mace. It is of a light-brown colour, and is much 

 handsomer than mauy hairs that are highly prized. 

 The antenna? of the moth into which the caterpillar 

 changes are also worthy of observation, being beau- 

 tifully branched, and the branches having hairs upon 

 them. I should be glad if some person would 

 inform me what is the name of the moth. The 

 caterpillar feeds upon the lime-tree. I have found 

 that the net-like markings on deer hair show much 

 better on a green background, as does also the hair 

 of the above-mentioned caterpillar — Silver Pox hair, 

 Mole hair, and Mouse hair ; while Yellow Cat hair, 

 Hare hair, Canterbury bell seed, Goldfinch feather, 

 Lark's feather, Cork, Elder pith, Herring gills, 

 Virginian stock pollen, Strawberry pollen, Deal 

 section, Rhubarb section, and Sulphur and Cabbage 

 Butterfly scales show well on a red background. 

 Dandelion pollen is seen to advantage on blue. I 

 have just had a proof of the ability of at least one 

 spider to rise in the air. Peeling something 

 crawling on my hand, I shook it, and a small black 

 spider fell by his thread about fourteen inches below 

 it. I snapped the thread with the other hand, and 

 held him up to a level with my face, when he at 

 once began to rise in a curved line, scarcely seeming 

 to lengthen his thread until on a level with my 

 hand. I then called a friend's attention to him, 

 when we both saw him rise steadily twelve or 

 fourteen feet in a nearly vertical direction. The 

 sun was shining brightly, and we could distinctly 

 see his thread from my hand up to him, and also 

 that his thread went no higher than himself, and 

 that, consequently, he was not running up it. At 

 the height mentioned he was arrived within the 

 shadow of a roof, and we lost sight of him. I may 

 add there was no air stirring worth mention. — 

 Edwin Holmes. 



Berlin Black.— At the March meeting of the 

 Quekett Microscopical Club, Mr. R. T. Lewis read 

 a short paper in which he strongly recommended 

 Berlin black as being a great improvement upon 

 the ordinary Brunswick black commonly used in 

 object mounting. Its advantages were that it dried 

 perfectly in the course of a few minutes, with a 

 smooth dull surface, upon which thin gum would 

 spread as easily as upon paper, and a single coating 

 of it upon glass was for all practical purposes 

 opaque. These properties render it especially 

 useful in spotting the interior of cells in which 

 objects are to be mounted for lieberkuhn illumi- 

 nation. When used for finishing off slides, its dry 

 surface may be highly polished by rubbing it with a 

 piece of soft cloth or silk. 



