HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



95 



In all the lists of Dr. Maddow's photographs of 

 microscopic objects, I fail to find any representing 

 the Infusoria, Polyps, Rotifers, etc. Can lantern 

 photos of these be had ?— G~. M. B. 



Pond Life in Nottinghamshire.— Can any 

 reader inform me where the best ponds, ditches, or 

 streams, are to be found in Nottinghamshire for 

 micro life, viz., Hydra viridis, Hydra fusca, Stentors, 

 Vorticella, Volvcx globator, Melicerta ringens, Desmi- 

 diacese, or Diatomacea: ? Any information on this 

 point will be much valued. — ]V. H. P. 



Branched Tentacle of Hydra. — Some months 

 ■or so since, Mr. Dunn exhibited at the Birmingham 

 Microscopists' and Naturalists' Union, a specimen of 

 Hydra viridis, having a small tentacle growing out of 

 one of the others, and looking like the letter Y. A 

 short time after, I found two specimens of Hydra. 

 vulgaris having the same peculiarity, except that one 

 branched out much nearer the base than the other. 

 Another member of our society, Mr. Henry Hawkes, 

 also found a specimen. As I have never read of 

 anything of the kind, I should be glad to know if any 

 one else has noticed a similar occurrence ? I have 

 mounted a specimen, and shall be happy to show it 

 to any one calling on me at 33 Geach Street, 

 Birmingham. — IVi/liam Tylar. 



Water-Voles (Arvicola amphibius).- — I have 

 often seen water-rats gnawing rushes at the edge of 

 the water. They are plentiful along the banks of the 

 Med way here. — H. Lamb, Maidstone. 



• 



Paradise Tree. — The flower your correspon- 

 dent F. S. mentions is an orchid and is indigenous to 

 the Isthmus of Panama, and is rare, even in its native 

 land. The plant grows to a height of about 4 feet, 

 the flower being of a creamy white colour, exhaling a 

 faint perfume. The petals of the flower are folded 

 back, and in the centre are arranged in the exact shape 

 •of a small white dove with wings extended, as if just 

 about to take flight. It is regarded with religious 

 veneration in its native land, and the inhabitants have 

 given it the name of " Espiritu Santo," the flower of 

 the Holy Spirit, but I unfortunately do not know its 

 scientific name. Of its existence there is no doubt at 

 all ; it is, I believe, growing at Chatsworth, and I 

 know it is or was in the conservatories at Windsor. — 

 M. L. S., Pendleton. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than heretofore, we cannot 

 possibly insert in the following number any communications 

 •which reach us later than the 8th 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. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the "exchanges" offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken of owe gratuitous insertion of 

 " exchanges " which cannot be tolerated. 



We request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or 

 initials) and full address at the end. 



I". Marshall.— Morris's " History of British Birds." For 

 price, consult the secondhand catalogues of W. P. Collins, 

 157 Great Portland Street, or \V. Wesley, Essex Street, Strand. 



A. S. B., and others. — Perhaps you are not aware that 

 furze may be found in blossom all round the year, under 

 anything like favourable conditions. The furze sent is U. 

 EitropiEus. 



Faux. — This is not an uncommon thing in bulbous plants, 

 but occurs in the orchids more particularly. 



C. Frkd Fox. — The paper you mention on the " Cephalopoda 

 of the Isle of Wight," by C. Parkinson, F.G.S., is to be found 

 in No. 177 of this journal, viz., September 1879. 



W. W. Bladen. — Your name as author of the paper oa 

 " Nidification in Staffordshire," in our last number, was un- 

 fortunately omitted. 



G. E. East, jun. — "The Natural History Journal" is not 

 in existence. "The Annals and Magazine of Natural History " 

 (London: Taylor & Francis), price of an ordinary monthly 

 number, 2s. 6d. "The Geological Record " (London: Taylor 

 & Francis), is published annually to subscribers, price 10s. 6d. 



E. C. — We cannot undertake correspondence of the kind you 

 mention other than that connected with this column. 



F. Harding. — Get J. Harting's "Rambles in Search of 

 Shells." 



F. J. G. — Your letter with regard to M. B.'s exchange notice 

 is the first we have received. We hope we shall not hear the 

 like from others, which might render it necessary to take 

 further steps. 



B. B. (Bath). — Thanks for your note. Your address has 

 been taken in case it might be wanted for future reference. 



H. A. F. — For information as to works on the botany and 

 natural history of Florida, apply to the editors of the " American 

 Naturalist " (Philadelphia) or the " Botanical Gazette " (Indian- 

 apolis'). 



F. A. — We have received a number of letters replying to 

 E. A.'s query about the blossoming of the artichoke in England. 

 It blossomed at Croydon and elsewhere, besides the places 

 alluded to in the notes now published. 



J. Ritchie. — (1) Grattan's " British Seaweeds " ("Bazaar" 

 Office), published at is. 6d. Landsborough's "British Sea- 

 weeds," published at 10s. 6d. by Lovell Reeve, coloured plates. 

 (2) Stark's "Popular History of British Mosses" (Routledge), 

 published at 10s. 6d., coloured plates. Many years ago a 

 special number was published of Science-Gossip on Hepaticae, 

 by Dr. M. C. Cooke. It is now out of print, but may possibly 

 be obtained through some scientific bookseller. Dr. Carrington's 

 work on the Jungermanniaceae is slowly coming out. 



W. B. — Your specimen is Betula alba, or white birch. 



H. H. — See articles in Science-Gossip on " Hybernation of 

 Swallows." by Dr. C. C. Abbott. 



J. B. B. — Your specimens are as follows: Xenodochus car- 

 bonarius, or Burnet leaf; 54, Polytrichum ; 55, species of 

 Pterogonium ; 80, imperfect. Probably a pinnule of Aspidium 

 Jalcatum. 



P. O'K. (co. Clare). — Your specimens are the cup-moss 

 lichen {Cenomyce pyxidatd], the reindeer's horn lichen (Cla- 

 donia rangiferina), and catkins of the common club-moss 

 (Z. ycopodium cla va turn). 



H. M. — Your specimen is the partition or septum of the fruit 

 of the garden plant called Honesty. 



M. A. M. — The specimen you enclosed is a fragment of the 

 egg-capsules of the common whelk {Bncciuum widatiim) . 

 See Taylor's " Half-hours at the Seaside," for figures and 

 description. 



F. R. — Your slide of specimen was smashed. "The white 

 object attached to a pebble " and " dropt by a male bird," is 

 the entire mass of egg-capsules of the white whelk, referred to 

 above. The other object is a fresh-water alga, showing oogonia. 



F. W. C. — See recent numbers of " Nature " for letters on 

 lantern screens. A lantern-microscope would be very helpful 

 to you in your difficulty. Apply to Messrs. Chatto & Windus 

 for Hepworth's cheap treatise on the Magic Lantern, and how to 

 work it. 



S. J. M. —The following are excellent works connected with 

 Sericulture: "Report in regard to the Manufacture of Raw 

 Silk, &c, in India," 1836. " Cultivation of Silk in Australia, 

 Sydney," 1870, "Silk Culture in Japan," "Roxburghe's Ac- 

 count of the Silkworms of Bengal," " La Sericulture," by 

 Bavier, Lyons, 1874. You had better apply for any of these or 

 other books on the subject, to B. Quaritch or W. Wesley, 

 scientific bookseller, Essex Street, Strand. 



J. E. R. — Your exchanged note is not in hand. 



E. H. — 1st. Foreign Conchology by Chenu, published in 

 French ; Wood's " Index Testaceologica"; Sowerby's "Genera 

 of Shells." The above are abundantly illustrated with coloured 

 plates. 2nd. Any London dealer, or the Assistants in the 

 Conchological Department of the Brit. Nat. Hist. Museum. 

 For British mollusca, see Gwyn Jeffrey's work in five vols. 



EXCHANGES. 



Good botanical, histological, crystals, polariscopic, diatoms, 

 fish scales and miscellaneous, microscopic slides for others as 

 good of bacilli, entozoa, algae, desmids, zoophytes, rocks, fossil 

 woods. — B. Wells, Dalmain Road, Forest Hill. 



Wanted, Science-Gossip, Nos. 230, 231. What offers for 

 Balfour's "Outlines" and Paley's "Theology"? — F. Marshall, 

 Benwick, March, Cambridgeshire. 



One or two specimens of Tcstacclla haliotidea, taken in this 

 locality, which I am willing to forward alive or dead for another 

 equally rare species.— F. Fenn, 20 Woodstock Road, Bedford 

 Park, Chiswick, W. 



