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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



unwilling to deceive, but then, in most instances, 

 he receives his information second or third hand. 

 There never was to my knowledge a complete chain 

 of evidence to place the record of such a discovery 

 beyond a doubt. It is an easy matter for workmen in 

 a quarry, and more particularly in a coalmine, when 

 breaking up a block of either stone or coal and find- 

 ing a toad turn up at the moment, innocently to 

 believe that it came out of the rock, when most 

 probably it was secreted somewhere near, and by the 

 displacement of the stone came to their sight. The 

 story of such discoveries I venture to think are on the 

 face of them so much removed beyond the bounds of 

 probability, if not possibility, as to render them 

 unworthy of much belief, because in supposing such 

 cases we are bound, without any alternative, to date 

 the existence of the toad far back through the ages of 

 the past, to the formation of the rock, and this fact 

 alone is sufficient to warrant us in receiving all cases 

 of such reputed discovery with the greatest caution. 

 — Most of us have heard of "Flint Jack," but I 

 do not think many readers of this Journal have met 

 with any manufacturers of fossil toads, but I knew 

 many years ago a working naturalist living in Leeds 

 who used to prepare for " sale " toads stated to have 

 been found in beds of coal, by baking them perfectly 

 black and hard in an oven, and then taking square 

 pieces of coal and after splitting them carefully he 

 would cut a hollow in each portion to receive the 

 " ancient reptile." — Thomas G. Denny. 



British Association Meeting.— The meeting 

 of the above association will be held this year at 

 Swansea. The president elect is Professor Andrew 

 Crombie Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., Director- 

 General of the Geological Survey of the United 

 Kingdom. The inaugural address will be delivered 

 on Wednesday, August 25. In addition to the 

 usual soirees, there will be discourses : on Friday 

 evening by Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., on 

 "Primeval Man;" and on Monday evening by Mr. 

 Francis Galton, F.R.S., on "Mental Imagery." 

 On Wednesday, September 1, the concluding General 

 Meeting will be held at 2.30 p.m. On Saturday 

 evening, August 28, Henry Seebohm, Esq., F.Z.S., 

 will deliver a lecture to the operative classes on 

 " The North-East Passage." The Presidents of the 

 different sections are the following: Mathematical 

 and Physical Science : President— Professor W. 

 Grylls Adams, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.C.P.S. ; 

 Chemical Science : President— John Henry Gilbert, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S ; Geology: President— 

 H. Clifton Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S., Pres. G.S. ; 

 Biology: President— A. C. L. G. Giinther, M.A., 

 M.D., Th.D., F.R.S. ; Geography : President— 

 Lieut.-General Sir John Henry Lefroy, C.B., 

 R.C.M.G., R.A., F.R.S., F.R.G.S. ; Economic 

 Science and Statistics : President- George Woodyatt 

 Hastings, M.P. ; Mechanical Science : President- 



James Abernethy, C.E. The local secretaries are 

 W. Morgan, Esq., Ph.D., F.C.S., and Mr. James 

 Strick. This is the fiftieth annual meeting of the 

 association. 



A Fresh-water Jelly-fish.— Professor Ray 

 Lankester has given in a recent number of " Nature " 

 an account of the discovery of a new jelly-fish, 

 belonging to the order Trachomedusse, living 

 in the water-lily tank at Regent's Park. The 

 organism he described as an adult Medusa of the 

 family Petasidse, and he thinks it comes nearest, 

 among described genera, to Fritz Midler's imperfectly 

 known Aglauropsis from the coast of Brazil. The 

 most interesting fact in connection with it is that it 

 occurs in great abundance in perfectly fresh water 

 at a temperature of 90 Fahr. Mr. Sowerby, who 

 first discovered the Medusa, has observed it feeding 

 on the Daphnia, which abounds in the water with it. 

 The diameter of the disk does not exceed one-third 

 of an inch. Professor Lankester has given to it 

 the name Craspedacnsta S<nvcrbii. Since Professor 

 Lankester published his account he found that Dr. 

 Allman had also worked out the generic character- 

 istics of the above Medusa, and assigned to it the 

 name of Limnocodmm Victoria, and Professor Lan- 

 kester has generously withdrawn his own claim to 

 priority and has accepted Dr. Allman's nomenclature, 

 but he thinks Mr. Sowerby's name should be retained 

 in connection with the species. The chief fact which 

 remains, however, is the occurrence of a fresh-water 

 jelly-fish. 



" The Midland Naturalist."— The last number 

 of the above journal contains, amongst other matter, 

 a full account of the "Third Annual Meeting of the 

 Midland Union of Natural History Societies," which 

 gives the address of the president (Sir Herewald 

 Wake Bart.). Also articles on "Northamptonshire 

 Birds'" by Lord Lilford ; "Pond Life: Where to 

 find Anuria ZongisJ>ina," by J. Levick ; "British 

 Lichens : How to Study them," by W. Phillips, F.L.S. ; 

 "Fossil Fish Remains from the Carboniferous Lime- 

 stone of South Derbyshire," by E. Wilson, F.G.S. ; 

 and "Meteorology of the Midlands," by W. J. 

 Harrison, F.G.S. 



"The Popular Science Review."— The July 

 number of this well-known magazine contains the 

 following articles :- " Feaiher-stars, Recent and 

 Fossil " by P. H. Carpenter, M.A. ; "The Portland 

 Building Stone," by the Rev. J. F. Blake, M.A., 

 FG.S.; "Climbing Plants," by Francis Darwin, 

 FLS ; "On the Influence which a Molecular 

 Movement due to Electricity may have exerted in 

 certain Geological Phenomena, namely, the Meta- 

 morphism of Rocks and the Formation of Metalli- 

 ferous Deposits ;" " Sunspots and British Weather, 

 by W. L. Dallas ; " The Hardening and Tempering 

 of Steel," &c. 



