HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



249 



and what are a few cool summers in ages ?] And 

 if this were the purpose of the spots, he continues, 

 there would surely be some adaptation to the charac- 

 ter of the season ; in very cold ones, the spotted plants 

 should do badly and the plain plants well, and the 

 opposite should be the case in hot summers. [It is 

 curious that I made this entry in my note book 

 on April 9th, 1883 : " Noticed that the recent severe 

 weather had retarded and damaged the plants in the 

 open fields, whereas the plants in the hedges had 

 fared much better. Of these, the plain varieties were 

 best off: one plant with many spotted leaves having all 

 the spots picked out by the frost."] And he ends by 

 saying that he fancies we are a little too ready to 

 suppose we can explain various phenomena, when 

 we can do nothing of the sort. 



Mr. Reve's charming note on Ranunculus ficaria 

 {p. 130) suggests to me that the two plants celandine 

 and orchis are made to take up alternative positions, 

 in order that they may not interfere with one another, 

 and still occupy the same piece of ground. 



There is very much left for future consideration. 

 Meantime there are the spots on the leaves of 

 O. mascula. If anyone will communicate with me on 

 the subject, I shall be greatly obliged. The kind letter 

 of Professor Boulger must remain unanswered at 

 present, for want of time, and "G. M." will confer a 

 favour if he will give me his address. My only object 

 is to ascertain correctly all the facts about this very 

 interesting plant. 



Edward Malan. 



Ckeam, Surrey. 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION AND LABEL- 

 LING OF MICROSCOPICAL OBJECTS. 



By I. C. Thompson, F.R.M.S. (Hon. Sec. Liver- 

 pool Microscopical Society). 



IN our rapidly extending societies, comprising many 

 members almost entirely self-taught so far as re- 

 gards microscopic science, observations and methods 

 of manipulation and practical work might with ad- 

 vantage be more frequently brought before us. As a 

 means to an end manipulation is very important, and 

 it is sometimes to be wished that workers and even 

 teachers of microscopic physiology and morphology 

 would descend to pay a little more attention to such 

 points of detail. It is but a seemingly small subject 

 that it is intended to touch upon in these few obser- 

 vations, viz., the arrangement, classification, and 

 labelling of our slides. 



We have now belonging to the Liverpool Society 

 a large and valuable collection of objects, and 

 probably the majority of our members have cabinets 

 of their own, more or less extensive, and arranged 

 and classified in various ways, according to the taste 

 of the owner. 



It is therefore upon a natural system of classifica- 

 tion that I recommend our individual arrangement 

 of cabinets. With labels specially adapted as essential 

 (of which more later on) I am satisfied, after a little 

 practical experience, that the result will be a success. 



The advantage as regards the amount of know- 

 ledge of the various objects by this means impressed 

 upon the mind through observation cannot be too 

 highly estimated, for though entailing a little more 

 time and trouble, especially to the beginner, the in- 

 formation gained is never lost, but constantly added 

 to, as new objects fall into their proper places, and 

 missing links are by degrees supplied; and a strong 

 stimulus is afforded to remedy deficiencies, as objects 

 become conspicuous by their absence. 



It will be doubtless asked : What system of classifi- 

 cation will you adopt ? as each recognised authority 

 differs from another, and all are fallible. In reply it 

 is of comparatively small importance which special 

 authority, if any, we follow, as each of their systems 

 probably follows the poet's law of all systems, "they 

 have their day and cease to be," because, if as open 

 to conviction as all true followers of science always 

 should be, we shall find alterations necessary from 

 time to time, as species turn out to be merely varieties, 

 either their modification, or the appearance of new 

 varieties uniting what were before considered distinct 

 species. 



The Rev. H. H. Higgins, some years ago, read two 

 valuable papers entitled, " Lines of Animal Life and 

 Lines of Vegetable Life " before our society. 



We could hardly do better than follow these in 

 the main, as themselves agreeing very much with 

 such acknowledged authorities as Koch in the 

 animal, and Sach in the vegetable domain ; and it is 

 much on the same lines that Mr. Higgins has so 

 clearly and admirably carried out the arrangement of 

 the cases in our museum. 



Thus by natural classification, the specimens of 

 Difflugia now consigned to the very tail end of our 

 collection, under the ignominious heading, " Miscel- 

 laneous," would at once take their proper places at 

 the head of the list, under the Sub-kingdom Protozoa, 

 Class Rhizopoda,aud Order Amcebcea, or Protophyta, 

 according to the classification preferred. 



The Foraminifera, of which we have a large number, 

 would follow next, in their true places, followed by 

 the Polycystina and the sponge spiculae. 



The next sub-kingdom, the Ccelenterata, which 

 comprises the hydra, the jelly-fishes, and sea-anemones, 

 does not appear to be well represented in our cabinet, 

 and the fact of this omission being pointed out will 

 probably induce some of our mounters to speedily 

 supply the want. Indeeed it is one of the advantages 

 of a proper classification that we can at once see 

 wherein our strength and weakness lie. 



Few objects could be more interesting in their 

 proper places than carefully-prepared slides of the 

 Campanularian and other zoophytes, showing the 



