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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[June 1, 1868. 



Reptiles and Eish Remains from the Coal 

 Measures. — In the May number of your excellent 

 serial there is a short article on the above subject, 

 on which, with your permission, I will make a few 

 remarks. The chief object of the article seems to 

 be the glorification of Mr. Atthey ; and the means 

 by which that object is sought to be accomplished is 

 the depreciation— with an utter disregard for truth— 

 of other collectors, some of whom have been much 

 longer in the field, and have achieved much greater 

 success. Mr. Atthey has now, says your corre- 

 spondent, "the best private collection of fossil car- 

 boniferous fauna in the world." I have italicised the 

 word fossil, in the hope that when the cacoethes 

 scribendi again comes upon Mr. Barkas, recent 

 carboniferous fauna may be suggested as a fitting 

 subject for his facile pen. It does not appear to 

 have occurred to Mr. Barkas that the coal measures 

 of the world are not confined to Northumberland, 

 and that there are many collectors besides those he 

 has been pleased to enumerate in his article. In 

 various parts of the country there are extensive 

 collections of carboniferous fauna, in comparison 

 with which Mr. Atthey's ought never to be 

 mentioned at all. Such a collection is that of Mr. 

 Ward, at Longton. Por every fish in Mr. Atthey's 

 cabinet there are upwards of a hundred in Mr. 

 Ward's ; and this is not a random statement, like 

 that of your versatile correspondent, but one that 

 is founded on knowledge. There are similar collec- 

 tions in the possession of Sir Philip Egerton, and 

 others, of whose existence I presume Mr. Barkas 

 has never heard. Professor Owen's description of 

 new geneiu, which appears in the last volume of the 

 Transactions of the Odontological Society, has also 

 merited your correspondent's attention. It is stated 

 that the twelve new genera " do not form the one- 

 hundredth part of Mr. Atthey's vast collection." 

 It must indeed be a vast collection if it contains 

 twelve hundred new genera ! Such a statement only 

 shows that the writer's credulity is iu inverse pro- 

 portion to his knowledge. The specimens supplied 

 to Professor Owen were carefully selected from 

 amongst upwards of three thousand prepared 

 sections, and the description embraces only a selec- 

 tion from the specimens sent. This will give some 

 idea how " vast " Mr. Atthey's collection will require 

 to be to answer Mr. Barkas's exaggerated descrip- 

 tion. No one knows better, or appreciates more 

 highly than I do, the labours of Mr. Atthey ; and 

 from what I know of that gentleman I believe he 

 will not feel complimented by the article in ques- 

 tion. The papers referred to as having been written 

 by Mr. Atthey are the production of Mr. Albany 

 Hancock, Mr. Atthey having only supplied the 

 specimens described. The suppression of Mr. 

 Hancock's name is quite in keeping with the spirit 

 of the article. — T. Craggs, Gateshead. 



[We could not in justice refuse to insert the above, 

 but at once declare our opposition to any discussion 

 on the subject. It was manifestly unjustifiable to 

 ignore Mr. Albany Hancock's part in the paper 

 alluded to, and we cannot consent to be a party to 

 the suppression of his name. — Ed. S. G.] 



Perch in Aquarta. — Some time ago I read in 

 one of the periodicals that perch in captivity were 

 short-lived. I. thought, perhaps, it might interest 

 some of your readers to know that I have had 

 one in my aquarium just live years. It is in a very 

 healthy condition, and about eight inches long, and 

 has become very tame. A few days aso it spawned. 

 Is not that a very unusual occurrence ? — K L. 



Water Beetle {Gyrimts natator). — I had one in 

 a tumbler of water, into which I put for shelter for 

 the beetle a few bits of paper. When disturbed, 

 the insect, as is usual on ponds, dived to the bot- 

 tom, and slowly rose under the paper until it touched 

 it, with all the appearance of a dead insect, its 

 legs hanging down precisely like those of a dead fly. 

 So soon as the disturbing cause was removed, it 

 drew up its legs and darted from its hiding-place. 

 I tried it repeatedly, and it always acted in the same 

 way. — F. G. 



Nothing New under the Sun.— Some months 

 ago a question was proposed at the Quekett Micro- 

 scopical Club as to what insect afforded the hairs 

 sold as hairs from the larva of Dermestes. The 

 following extract, whilst in some degree furnishing 

 an answer, may perhaps throw some light on the 

 origin of the question. " But the most remarkable 

 larva for the shape of its hairs is that of the 

 Anthrenus musaorum, the little pest of our cabinets 

 which I noticed in a former letter. All the hairs of 

 its body are rough, with minute points ; but those of 

 six diverging long tufts, or aigrettes, laid obliquely 

 on the anal extremity of the body, which the animal, 

 when alarmed, erects as a porcupine does its quills, 

 are of a most singular structure. Every hair is 

 composed of a series of little conical pieces, placed 

 end to end, the point of which is directed towards 

 the origin of each hair, which is terminated at the 

 other extremity by a loug and large conical mass, 

 resembling somewhat the head of a pike." The 

 extract is from Kirby & Spence's Entomology, 

 vol. iii., pp. 177, 178.—^. M. 



New Panoramic Stereoscope. — The size of 

 the picture in the ordinary refracting stereoscope 

 has hitherto been limited to about three inches in 

 each direction; consequently in a vast number of 

 subjects, the effect has been to give a dwarfed, 

 unnatural appearance. Bearing this in mind, the 

 inventors have taken advantage of the fact that 

 while the size of two pictures which can be united 

 stereoscopically is limited in the horizontal direction 

 because their centres must be as nearly as possible 

 opposite the pupils of the eyes, in the vertical 

 direction it is limited only by the angle of natural 

 vision, which practically admits of the use of a 

 picture nearly double the height of the width 

 between the eyes. Thus pictures are taken in such 

 a manner from, and of, great heights (of about 

 3 inches in width and 5* inches in height) to be 

 viewed stereoscopically, so that all objects are repre- 

 sented in better relative proportions. Both stereo- 

 scopes and pictures are produced at so moderate a 

 price by Messrs. Murray & Heath, that it will be 

 in the power of all to possess the really artistic and 

 most entertaining scientific instrument known. 



Hebony.— Shakespeare speaks of a plant " He- 

 bony," in that well-known passage in Hamlet, 



Sleeping within mine orchard, 

 My custom always in the afternoon, 

 Upon my secure hour thy uncle stoie, 

 With juice of cursed Hcbony in a phial, 

 And in the porches of mine ear did pour 

 The leperous distilment. 



Are any of the readers of Science-Gossip aware of 

 any evidence that bears upon the subject ? The 

 commentators on Shakespeare suppose hcbony to 

 be henbane — an improbable suggestion, I think, when 

 we consider how difficult it is to obtain juice from 

 so dry a plant. — George Neiclyn. 



