HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



4i 



Pith Mass Pentangular or IIkxangular — {continued). 



Name and Character of Medullary 

 Rays. 



Quercus Hex, 4 years old. — 

 Thin, close, equidistant. 



Rubus fruticosus. — Short, thick, 

 in bundles, with intermediate 

 thin ones. 



Castanea vesca, 5 years old. — 

 Radiating in curvilinear par- 

 cels from projecting points of 

 pith, of unequal thickness. 



Populus nigra. — Thin, regular. 



Sparse, in radiating bundles, 

 with intermediate blank 

 spaces. 



Large, scattered. 



Large, arranged in the lines 

 ot annual growth, apertures 

 mostly oval. 



Abundant, not large, pretty 

 equally distributed, mostly 

 compound. 



Proportion 

 of Pith Area 



to that of 



Wood, minus 



Bark. 



i to 19S 



I to I T 6 3 

 i to 62 



Other Particulars. 



Woody tissue, mottled. Liber 

 in a complete circle. 



Liber in curved parcels between 

 the extremities of the medul- 

 lary rays. 



Liber abundant in elongated 

 parcels, woody tissue, 

 mouled. 



1 to 55 Liber in scattered parcels. 



Pith Mass of Irregular Shape or Angular. 



MICROSCOPY. 



"Studies in Microscopical Science." — 

 Variety and an artistically high character continue to 

 distinguish these weekly issues. Among the recent 

 studies we particularly notice the following : — - 

 " Transverse Section of Spleen of Infant," 

 "Transverse Section of stem of J uncus communis,'' 

 " Ditto of Spleen of Cat." 



"The Journal of the Postal Microscopical 

 Society." — No. 4 of this Journal has been published 

 (edited by Mr. A. Allen), containing the following 

 papers:— "On the Structure and Economy of the 

 Daphnia" (Presidential address, by Mr. A. 

 Hammond, F.L.S.) ; " On the size of Dust Particles 

 of Wheat and Coal," by H. Epps ; " On the Bursting- 

 point of some Starch Cells," by W. J. Dibdin ; 

 "Pond Hunting in Winter," by E. Wade- Wilton ; 

 besides selected notes from the Society's Note-book, 

 Reports of Societies, Correspondence, &c. As might 

 be expected by all who are acquainted with his 

 drawings, the illustrations to Mr. Hammond's paper 

 are excellent. 



"Journal of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society."— The December part of this Journal is 



full of unusually interesting matter,' including papers 

 on " Some Organisms found in the Excrements of 

 the Domestic Goat and the Goose," by R. L. 

 Maddox, M.D., and on "A Further Improvement 

 in the Groves- Williams Ether Freezing Microtome," 

 by J. W. Groves. In addition, we have a capital 

 summary of current researches relating to Zoology, 

 Botany, &c, as developed by microscopical research, 

 as well as a full Report of the Proceedings of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society. 



Fluid Cavities in Meteorites. — As the author 

 of the paper on Fluid Cavities in a Meteorite, 

 referred to by your correspondent in this month's 

 Science-Gossip (p. 276), I may perhaps be 

 permitted to state that I shall be very happy to give 

 every additional information in my power to him and 

 to all those who may have taken an interest in this 

 subject. I have a number of sections of the Meteorite 

 of Braunfels, and also a few fragments of the material, 

 which I shall be glad to submit to the examination of 

 experts. — Hcinricli HcnsolJt. 



Heliopelta. — In June 1844, a paper by Professor 

 Ehrenberg appeared in the Monatsb. d. k. Akad. zu 

 Berlin, entitled, " Ueber eine neue marine Tripel 

 Bildung von der Bermuda Inseln," in which he says, 



