HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



65 



Microscop. Soc." Feb.) — "The Extinct Animals of 

 the Lake District," by John Watson ("The Natu- 

 ralist," Feb.) — " On the Pelagic Fauna of our Shores 

 in its Relation to the Nourishment of the Young 

 Food-fishes," by Prof. Mcintosh ("Annals and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist." Feb.)— "Photographic Lenses," by 

 J. Traill Taylor ("English Mechanic," Feb. 4 and 

 nth). 



OUR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORY. 



South London Entomological and Natural History 

 Society. — This society having removed into more com- 

 modious rooms in the Bridge House, London Bridge, 

 S.E., all communications are to be addressed to 

 Mr. H. \V. Barker, honorary secretary, as above. 



Vale of Aylesbury Naturalists' Club. — President, 

 Rev. Charles L. Jeayes, B.A. ; Secretary, George 

 Fell, jun. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



The new edition of the catalogue published by The 

 Woodhouse & Rawson Electric Supply Company is 

 devoted to a description of their well-known electrical 

 supplies, such as incandescent lamps, switches, cut 

 outs instruments, Jensen electric bells, &c. &c. (the 

 particulars of their Upward Battery for domestic 

 lighting, electric gas lighting supplies, and the Wels- 

 bach gas burner, are published in separate lists). A 

 price-list is given of all the leading articles used in 

 electrical industries. The company are taking up 

 the useful field of keeping in stock and supplying 

 every article used in connection with electricity. 



We regret to have to record the death of Mr. 

 E. L. Youmans, author of the "Class Book of 

 Chemistry," and the originator of the now well- 

 known "International Scientific Library," at the 

 comparatively early age of sixty-six. 



The Selborne Society, formed for the protection 

 of pretty birds from extermination because they 

 happen to be pretty, will issue letters from time to 

 time on the progress of its work. 



The latest of the Pasteur Reports (which covers 

 the time from October, 1885, to December, 1886) 

 shows that 2,682 subjects were under treatment for 

 hydrophobia, of which only thirty-one, or 1*15 per 

 cent., succumbed. 



During February, Dr. J. E. Taylor, editor of 

 Science-Gossip, delivered two lectures in connection 

 with the Ipswich Museum, on "The Physical History 

 of the Atmosphere," and two on the " Circulation of 

 Fresh Water on the Globe " ; two at Hadleigh and 

 Bury St. Edmunds, on "Australia, its Animals and 



Plants " ; one at Lincoln, on " The Origin of Land- 

 scape Scenery " ; one before the Dover Natural 

 History Society, on "Flowers and Fruits"; and 

 one at Beccles, on " Earthquakes and Volcanoes." 



The town of Baku is threatened with destruction 

 by the sudden outburst of a natural naphtha fountain, 

 which broke out on January 15th, so that a column 

 of fire shot up to the height of three hundred and fifty 

 feet. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Diatoms from Bangor, Wales. — From a small 

 quantity of mud taken from the shore at Garth Point, 

 Bangor, last June, at low tide, I procured several 

 beautiful selected slides, although there was too much 

 foreign matter to allow of my gathering being 

 mounted "spread." The most abundant diatom 

 was Coscinodiscus radiatus, the valves of which, of a 

 beautiful violet colour when dry, could be picked out 

 in plenty. The prettily marked Actinoptychus 

 undulatus was also common, as well as the nearly 

 hemispherical shells of Podosira maculata which, 

 under well-managed oblique illumination, are gor- 

 geously iridescent. Besides there were Auliscus 

 sculptus, with its curious pattern of geometrical curves ; 

 Actinocyclus Ralfsii which possesses exactly the 

 opposite property to Coscinodiscus, being colourless 

 when dry and blue or green in balsam ; the well- 

 known Triceratium favus occurring sparingly ; 

 Biddulphia Rhombus, a frustule or so of an Actino- 

 sphasrid, one or two Pleurosigmas (?) &c. The " circu- 

 lar" forms by far the most prominent. Probably, 

 had I taken my microscope with me, I might have 

 got a far purer gathering from the surface of the mud. 

 Certainly these "common objects of the sea shore" 

 well repay the trouble of mounting.— G. H. By ran. 



A Phenomenon in Aniline Staining.— I pre- 

 sume E. H. Wagstaff made his cells with the " French 

 polish." He surely did not mount the algae in it ; 

 for, if he had, whence his fears as to its "running 

 in"? It would be of interest to know what the 

 actual mounting medium was, so that its solvent 

 effect upon shellac may be ascertained. — A. IV. L. 



Sections of Sponge. — Ordinary sponge may be 

 immersed in mucilage, and then cut. It may be 

 found of use for fresh water. The best way to 

 examine the structure of the statoblasts is in the dry 

 state — fresh specimens being very difficult — but is as 

 follows : Place four or five on a glass slip with a 

 drop of strong nitric acid. Boil this to dryness over 

 a very low spirit lamp ; do this three times. Then 

 place the slip on the incline, and pass water over it 

 with a camel's hair pencil until all the remains of the 

 acid are washed out. Next with a sharp, thin knife, 

 like a lancet, divide, in half or in quarters, one or 



