62 



HARD WICK& S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



Let us now compare the above extract from Mr. 

 Harper's "correction," with the following extract from 

 J. G. Wood's "Common Objects of the Microscope." 

 Mr. Wood says of wasps' stings (page 99) "minute 

 prototypes of the many barbed spears of the South 



Fig. 28. — Sxle view of two teeth of lancet of wasp. X 500. 

 A, the teeth ; b, tube and branches. 



Fig. 29. — Front view of two teeth of lancet of wasp. 



Fig. 30. — Transverse section through one of teeth. 



Fig. 31. — Lancet, with duct running through tube. X 50. 



r ig.32. — End of poison-bag of wasp (polariscope object). X 40. 



Sea Islanders;" and again, "It is by reason of 

 these barbs that the sting is always left adhering to 

 the wound, and is generally drawn wholly out of the 

 insect, causing its death in a short while. The sting 

 is only found in female insects, and is supposed to be 



analogous to the ovipositors of other insects." Again 



Hogg, on the "Microscope" (page 618, 1867 edition), 



says : " The sting of the wasp consists of two barbed 



darts which will penetrate the flesh deeply and, from a 



peculiar arrangement of their serrated edges, their 



immediate withdrawal is prevented ; by the 



great muscular effort required for this purpose, 



a small sac or bag near the root is pressed upon. 



. . . After the fluid is injected, the wasp has the 



power of contracting the barbed points and then 



it withdraws the sting from its victim." The 



accompanying figures are from a paper by Dp 



Mills (see SciENCE-Gossir, 1S68, page 148). 



Thomas Winder. 

 Sheffield, 6th Jan. 



i GEOLOGISING AT FAXE IN 

 DENMARK. 



By J. Ratcliffe Cousins, B.A., LL.B. 



FINDING myself in Copenhagen with several 

 days to spare, I determined on paying a 

 visit to that subject of curiosity, to geologists, 

 the Faxe or Faxoe limestone, a singular isolated 

 formation which occurs in Seeland, at Faxe and 

 Stevens Klint. This is apparently the only 

 limestone of Seeland, the rest of the island being 

 formed of boulder clays, gravels, &c, containing 

 huge blocks of gneiss greenstones, and many 

 igneous trap rocks, some of which are very 

 beautiful, and have evidently been brought 

 from the Scandinavian mountains in the same 

 manner as the huge boulders scattered over Russia 

 and North Germany. Amongst all this glacial 

 medley of the Danish Islands and South Sweden, 

 occur several patches, so to say, of limestone closely 

 allied' to the cretaceous formation of England and the 

 Continent ; namely, S. of Malmd in Sweden, in 

 Skaane, in the island of Saltsholm, and at Faxe and 

 Stevens Klint in Seeland ; whilst also in Moen we 

 have almost our identical English chalk beds at the 

 Great Klint in that Island, containing Belemnites, 

 Ammonites, Gryphcea, Ostraea, Terebratula, etc., 

 reminding one very forcibly of our chalk pits at 

 home. 



Leaving Copenhagen very early in the morning, 

 and passing the picturesque Dom Kirk of Roeskilde, 

 with its many Roman remains, our steam horse soon 

 brings us via Kjoge, to Faxe, and we commence our 

 operations. 



At first sight we see that the limestone is very 

 yellow and full of corals, and on trying our hammers, 

 we find that it is in many places a very tough fellow 

 to deal with, and we spoil several fine specimens 

 in getting the fossils out, notably a beautiful 

 Brachyiirus rugostts. It is in fact a tough yellow 

 limestone intimately connected with the chalk, and 



