HA RD WICKE S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



187 



A boring for coal at Holt-Sutherland, near 

 Sydney, N.S.W., has been carried to the depth of 

 175 f ee t beneath the sea level. Coal was found at 

 a depth of 1573 feet. 



The remains of a fossil arctic flora have been 

 discovered in the great stretch of land between Scania 

 and Norrland, in some beds of tufa. Among the 

 plants were Dry as octopctala and Bctula nana, now 

 extinct in the neighbourhood. 



Complaint has very properly been made that no 

 representative of science was invited to be present 

 at the laying of the foundation-stone of the Imperial 

 Institute, and yet, if there is one thing which has 

 distinguished the Queen's reign more than another 

 it has been the rapid growth of science. 



Professor Stokes, the President of the Royal 

 Society, delivered the annual address at the Victoria 

 Institute the last week in July. 



The Darwin Medal offered by the Midland Union 

 of Natural History, &c. Societies, has this year been 

 set apart for archaeology, and assigned to Mr. E. W. 

 Badger for a paper on the Monumental Brasses of 

 Warwickshire. 



Sir J. W. Dawson has recently suggested a 

 scheme of federation among English-speaking geolo- 

 gists, whereby uniformity can be secured on all 

 questions of nomenclature and classification. 



Mr. Francis Galton is about to deliver some 

 lectures on " Heredity." 



MICROSCOPY. 



The "Whirligig" Beetle.— {Gyrimis natator). 

 — Many naturalists are not aware that this common 

 beetle, to be seen swimming on the surface of every 

 pond, has four compound eyes, two of which are 

 above the water-line and two below. Mr. Fred. 

 Enock has just sent us a charmingly mounted speci- 

 men (with accompanying sketch and details of 

 structure) which shows these interesting organs in 

 the clearest manner. It is the most interesting slide 

 Mr. Enock has hitherto sent out. 



Ova of the Hermit Crab.— Mr. E. Hinton has 

 sent us a most interesting slide of the ova of the 

 hermit crab, showing the filaments which unite the 

 eggs together like a bunch of grapes, and all of them 

 to the abdominal segments of the female crab. 



The Crystallography of Butter and other 

 Fats. — At a recent meeting of the San Francisco 

 Microscopical Society, an important paper on this 

 subject was read by Dr. Thos. Taylor. A great deal 

 of work is now being done by Dr. Taylor in regard 

 to this important subject, and his investigations thus 

 far show that the fats of different animals differ in 



their crystallisation. For example, if small quantities 

 of butter, lard, and beef-fat be separately boiled and 

 slowly cooled, for, say twenty-four hours, the re- 

 sulting crystals will show very marked differences 

 under the microscope. The normal butter-crystal is 

 large and globular. It polarises brilliantly, and 

 shows a well-marked St. Andrew's Cross. That of 

 lard shows a stellar form, while that of beef-fat has a 

 foliated appearance. In course of time, as the butter 

 loses its freshness, the globular crystals degenerate, 

 and gradually merge into peculiarly rosette-like forms. 

 These different stages of crystallisation could be 

 plainly seen in the photographs exhibited. Speci- 

 mens of butter crystals had been prepared, and 

 were shown as resplendent objects under polarised 

 light. Favourable comments were made on the 

 excellent work done by this branch of the United 

 States Government in breaking up the traffic in 

 unwholesome and fraudulent butter compounds. 

 This ought to be a hint to our British Government. 

 What are our authorities doing in the matter ? The 

 comparison between the great practical interest taken 

 by the United States Government in all scientific 

 matters affecting the agricultural interests of that 

 country, and the profound and careless apathy and 

 indifference manifested by similar authorities in Great 

 Britain, is one reason why agriculture pays in 

 America and does not in England. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Scorpions in Mexico (see Dipton Burn in the 

 June number of Science-Gossip). — I have given 

 some attention to the Fauna of Mexico, ranging from 

 the deadly swamps of Vera Cruz to the cold region 

 of Real del Monte, the latter at an elevation of 

 10,000 feet ; and I have been inside a great many of 

 the houses in Mexico. But whether inside or outside 

 Mexican human habitations, it has never been my 

 lot to see a scorpion, or even to meet with any person 

 in Mexico who ever had seen one. Dipton Burn 

 either gives the readers of Science-Gossip the result 

 of his own experience, or he has obtained his facts 

 secondhand ; if the latter, I invite him to give his 

 authority ; for, in common with what I believe is held 

 by all genuine workers in the vast field of scientific 

 research, I look upon the circulation of unauthenti- 

 cated startling facts in natural history as contrary to 

 sound progress in knowledge. — Edward Charles-worth, 

 Saffron Walden. 



Middlesex Slugs. — A few days ago, Mr. A. Belt 

 sent me specimens of slugs from Castle-Bar, Ealing, 

 including Amalia gagates \< . plumbea, for which Ealing 

 is a new locality, and a new variety of Amalia mar- 

 ginata, found living with the type. This variety, of 

 which two specimens were sent, may be called bicolor ; 



