40 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



trace of glycerine. Then remove the compressor, 

 and replace upon the tin table, and apply a thin 

 coat of the cement to the edge of the cover, to be 

 repeated until the slide is finished. The same pro- 

 cess is applicable to deep glass cells. I send you 

 herewith a specimen mounted by above process in 

 one of the latter, that you may judge of the quality 

 of the work ; also one of the compressors which 

 I use. — W. H. Walmsley, Philadelphia, U.S.A. 



Seeds op Collomia coccinea.— I have received 

 from a friend a few of these very interesting seeds ; 

 he gave me these directions to obtain a most curious 

 sight : — " Having obtained your seeds, take a sharp 

 pocket-kuife, and cut off as small a quantity as 

 possible of the outer skin, then place it upon your 

 fluid slide, and cover it with a small square glass 

 slip ; at first use your 1-inch object-glass, and it 

 looks like a small piece of dirt, but directly you put 

 the smallest quantity of water in at the top of the 

 slip, so as to touch the seed, myriads of spiracles 

 will start away from it, and continue so to do 

 for nearly ten minutes. I have tried this experiment 

 a great many times, and always with success." — 

 P. /. C. 



"Half-Hours with the Microscope."— This 

 is the title of a really useful little book, written by 

 Mr. John Phin, the editor of the " Technologist," 

 and published by the Industrial Publication Com- 

 pany, New York. It contains practical hints on 

 the selection and use of the microscope, and is 

 intended for beginuers. Everything relating to the 

 working of the microscope, with all its accessories> 

 and also the various modes of mounting, &c, 

 are very clearly and patiently detailed in this little 

 work, which we heartily commend to all who are 

 looking out for such a book. 



Royal Microscopical Society. — At the recent 

 meeting of this society, attention was called to a 

 number of specimens sent to the society a short 

 time since by Mr. Hanks, of San Erancisco, and 

 which had since been mounted for the cabinet by 

 Mr. Loy ; also to some slides of Aulacodiscus 

 Kitloni, presented by Mr. Thomas Curties from 

 material collected on the late Congo Expedition, by 

 Mr. Martin, H.M.S. Spiteful. Mr. C. Stewart 

 then gave an interesting account of the structure 

 and development of sponges, freely illustrating his 

 remarks by drawings upon the black-board, and 

 concluded by stating his reasons for believing that 

 the well-known perforations in oyster-shell were 

 really made by the sponge. Mr. Hickie exhibited 

 to the meeting some photographs from Germany of 

 Naoicula crassinervis and Frustulia Saxonica, and 

 read some letters from Dr. Eabenhirst and Herr 

 Seibart in support of his opinion that the two were 

 ■widely distinct. 



Glands, &c, of Insects.— A paper, containing 



researches on the fuuctions of glands in the diges- 

 tive apparatus of insects has just been read before 

 the French Academy of Sciences, by M. Jousset. 

 He was able, in Blatta orietitalis, to obtain the 

 liquids in the gland itself before entrance into the 

 alimentary canal. Another contribution to the 

 same meeting was on the floral glands of Parmssia 

 Palustris, new physiological functions, by M. Haeckel. 

 These glands are a carnivorous organ. 



Glycerine Mounting. — Permit me to point out 

 to " S.L.B.," that, in using gold-size and crocus of 

 iron as a finishing varnish, I am not acting in opposi- 

 tion to Dr. Carpenter's advice, because the two or 

 three coats of plain gold-size which intervene, and are 

 allowed to become thoroughly dry, effectually pre- 

 vent all contact of the fluid with the finishing coat. 

 Dr. Carpenter's caution applies only to varnishes 

 in contact with the mounting fluid, and not to finish- 

 ing varnishes.—/. R. T. 



Liquid Cement.— Can any of your many readers 

 give a recipe for making a cement similar in pro- 

 perties and appearance to the useful cements which 

 are now so much in vogue for mending glass and 

 china ? I have found them valuable in many mat- 

 ters connected with science, but for general use they 

 are too expensive, when a small bottle costs a shil- 

 ling; probably the cost of making would be con- 

 siderably less. — R. S. T. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Ceratodus.— Professor Huxley, in his paper 

 recently read at the Zoological Society, on Ceratodus, 

 the Queensland reptilian fish— so nearly resembling 

 the Ceratodus of the New Red Sandstone— in describ- 

 ing the brain of that fish for the first time, showed 

 how closely it approached that of the Lepidosiren, 

 and how that in some points it resembled the Sela- 

 chian rather than the Ganoid type. He gave cogent 

 arguments against the theory of Gegeubauer, with 

 reference to the typical conformation of the fore 

 limb, and laid special stress on the affinities of the 

 animal with Chimeera. 



Recent Zoological Discoveries.— The address 

 to the Royal Society, recently delivered by the 

 president, Dr. Hooker, refers to the dredgings of 

 Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys and Captain'.Loftus Jones on the 

 Greenland coast, from 70° 30' N. lat. to the 

 entrance of Davis's Straits, and in the Atlantic as 

 far as 25° 5S' W. long., in depths of which the 

 greatest was 1,7S5 fathoms ; and temperature 

 soundings were taken at eleven out of the twenty 

 stations indicated in the Admiralty Instructions. 

 Among the valuable results obtained are the fact 

 that the fauna of the Greenland seas agrees with its 

 land flora in being mainly Norwegian, there being 

 (with the exception of the Echinoderms) an absence 



