25*5 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



better than any one can now answer them. — Carl 

 Reddots, Boston, Mass., U. S. A., September 7th, 

 1880. 



A new Microscopical Lamp.— Enclosed I send 

 you a diagram of a lamp and shade which I have 

 designed to serve three purposes : 1. An ordinary 

 microscopic lamp ; 2. One which may be carried in 

 the great-coat pocket for meetings away from home ; 

 3. A lamp for reading lectures, &c, when exhibiting 



Fig. 156. — New microscopical lamp. A, Lamp-shade made of 

 lacquered brass, it is fastened to the cap C (which holds the 

 lamp), by a screw, a ; B, Stand containing one or two 

 sliding tubes for elevating ; D, Shutter; E, Hood on shutter, 

 silvered on the inside. A small reflector is fastened behind 

 the opening to'reflect the light ; F, The lamp. The wick is 

 at right angles to the opening ; G, Screw to detach the 

 stand ; H, Reversible screw, so that when the foot is turned 

 the legs K lie close against the tube B, by means of the 

 hinges, I ; I, Double series of holes to keep the oil cool. 



lantern slides. Besides combining three lamps in 

 one, it is more powerful than other similar ones, and 

 is so much liked here that I venture to think it may 

 be useful to some of your readers. It was made for 

 me by Messrs. Gray & Selby of this town.— A. H. 

 Scott White, Nottingham. 



Microscopical Society of Liverpool.— The 

 Seventh ordinary Meeting of the Twelfth Session of 

 this society was held at the Royal Institution, 

 October 9 ; the president, Dr. Hicks, in the chair. 

 Dr. Carter was unanimously elected president of the 

 society for the year 1881. The Rev. William 

 Banister, B.A., gave an interesting account of the 

 Microscopical Exhibitions of the Chester Society of 



Natural Science at their annual conversazione held 

 the previous evening. About seventy microscopes 

 were exhibited, of which twelve were by members of 

 the Liverpool Microscopical Society, fifteen having 

 accepted the invitations to attend. Mr. Charles 

 Botterill exhibited and explained Mr. J. Smith's 

 method of illuminating opaque objects by means of a 

 bull's-eye condenser, the condenser being placed 

 horizontally between the lamp and object, and so 

 arranged that the rays from the lamp are totally 

 reflected from the upper plane side, and refracted 

 upon the object. 



Quekett Microscopical Club. — The Journal of 

 the above club for August, 1S80, contains papers 

 on : — " A simple Method of Cleaning Diatoms," by 

 H. Stollerfoth, M.D., M.A. ; "On Undescribed 

 British Sponge of the Genus Raphiodesma," by J. G. 

 Waller ; a " List of Objects found at recent Excur- 

 sions," by M. C. Cooke, M.A., LL.D., A.L.S. ; "On 

 Two Species of Acarina," &c, by A. D. Michael, 

 F.L.S., F.R.M.S. ; " Further Observations on Micro- 

 Filarise,"by Patrick Manson, M.D., Amoy ; " Helmin- 

 thological Observations upon the Endemic Disease 

 of the Mount St. Gothard Tunnel Labourers," by 

 Enardo Perroncito, M.D. Turin, &c. 



Permanent Microscopic Preparations of 

 Plasmodium. — Mr. S. H. Gage, in a paper recently 

 read before the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, advises picric acid as a means 

 of hardening this interesting motile form of the 

 Myxomycetes, without change of colour as by osmic 

 acid, or shrinkage and change of colour by drying. 

 Pieces of rotten wood containing plasmodium are 

 placed on moistened microscopic slides, taking care 

 that some of the protoplasm touches the slide, and 

 the whole placed under cover to prevent drying. In 

 an hour or so any plasmodium that may have crawled 

 out upon the slide may be fixed by placing the slide 

 a few minutes in a mixture of equal parts of ninety- 

 five per cent, alcohol and a saturated aqueous solution 

 of picric acid. Yellow plasmodium may then be at 

 once mounted, through absolute alcohol in balsam ; 

 but these forms should be first bleached in twenty- 

 five per cent, alcohol. 



Sea Anemones. — I suspect that "Minnie's" 

 shrimps were large sand skippers. Sea anemones 

 are very partial to these creatures, but they generally 

 crush them in swallowing them and reject the shells 

 after extracting the meat. I used to find my "sand 

 shrimps," as the fisher-girls called them, disappear 

 very rapidly in the aquarium, and see the bottom of 

 the tank covered with their shells in a day or so after 

 the frost. The anemones were accustomed to suck 

 them in as they did the raw beef with which, in 

 the absence of sand skippers, I occasionally fed them 

 — //. E. Wdtney. 



