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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Illustrations in Marine Zoology. — Most 

 naturalists are now familiar with the very interesting 

 zoological slides sent out by Mr. J. Sinel, of Jersey. 

 We have just received the following, all of which are 

 excellently mounted, and admirable illustrations of 

 marine zoology. Mysis (development of, 3 slides), 

 Tucora, adult or nauplius stages, Squilla, Homerus, 

 and Palcemon (Zoea stage), Carcinus (Megalopa 

 stage), Tadpole stage of compound ascidian, ditto, 

 mature, etc. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Scorpions in Mexico. — I can corroborate the 

 testimony of Mr. Dipton Burn as to the existence of 

 scorpions in Mexico (see June number Science- 

 Gossip). I was, in 1882, in charge of a division of the 

 Mexican National Railway, and stationed at the 

 important town of Celaya, about 145 'miles N.W. of 

 the capital, and at an elevation of over 5000 feet 

 above sea level. One day (and only a few weeks 

 after my arrival) I had occasion to open the drawer 

 of a small table by my bedside — that had not been 

 opened for some days — when I encountered, and 

 killed among the papers there, a veritable scorpion of 

 the size and color accurately described by Mr. Dipton 

 Burn. My manservant, a native of the place, seeing 

 it, expressed no surprise, and called it by its correct 

 name at once, and without any suggestion from me. 

 I know, from personal experience at Celaya, and 

 elsewhere in Mexico, that scorpions are not un- 

 common in that country, and I cannot understand 

 why Mr. Charlesworth — (see Aug. number Science- 

 Gossip) — who appears to have travelled in Mexico, 

 should never have encountered nor have heard of 

 them. I, however, do not agree with Mr. D. Burn 

 that they are considered among the greatest pests in 

 that country, nor that they are so numerous as he 

 describes, but their existence there is certain. — 

 Frederick Simon, M.l.C.E. 



Our British Migratory Birds in Africa.— 

 Mr. Seebohm, of Sheffield, who has been travelling 

 in South Africa, has written on British migratory 

 birds. Near the coast of Natal he saw hundreds 

 of thousands of common barn swallows and_ swifts 

 evidently collecting for the purpose of returning to 

 Northern Europe. At Durban Bay he noted vast 

 numbers of birds common to Britain — curlews, 

 wimbrels, greenshanks, common sand-pipers, sander- 

 lings, ring-doterels, and others, evidently all just 

 completed, or not having quite completed their spring 

 moult, requiring as they did, to get new flight feathers 

 in order to perform such enormous journeys. Mr. 

 Seebohm says that the sanderling, though so ex- 

 tremely common at Durban and Table Bay, does not 

 breed within eight thousand miles of either of these 

 localities ; and there are other birds whose length of 

 migration was quite as great. 



Scorpions in Mexico. — In your August number 

 I find some remarks about a statement by Dipton 

 Burn (see June number) that he had not seen any 

 scorpions in Mexico ; also (and this seems an ex- 

 tremely strange one) that he had not met with any 

 person there who ever had seen one. Having lived 

 for some time in that country, I am astonished at 

 such a statement, as in firewood, under loose stones, 

 and in old walls built of adobe (large sundried bricks), 

 plenty of these troublesome creatures can be found. 

 Possibly Mr. Charlesworth was there in winter, when 

 they are not so frequently seen as in summer ; but for 

 the statement of not having met with any person who 

 had ever seen one, there can be but one explanation : 

 viz. that he did not know the Mexican name for the 

 insect in question, which is called alacran there. 

 There also is an animal called scorpion in Mexico, 

 namely a kind of salamander — and speaking about 

 " scorpions " to Mexicans it will be easily understood 

 they never saw nor found these in their houses ! — just 

 as little as we see snakes or similar animals in ours. — 

 R. B. 



BOTANY. 



The Colours of Flowers.— The distinguished 

 German botanist, Professor Sachs, has discovered 

 that the ultra-violet and invisible rays of the solar 

 spectrum are especially efficacious in the development 

 of flowers. If these rays are suppressed, the vegeta- 

 tive organs grow luxuriously, but the flowers are 

 almost entirely suppressed. The professor thinks that 

 extremely small quantities of one or more substances 

 formed in the leaves cause the formative materials 

 which are conveyed to the growing points to take 

 the form of flowers. They act like ferments, so that 

 extremely small quantities of the flower substances 

 act upon large quantities of plastic substances. 

 Assuming there are three distinct regions of the solar 

 spectrum, he shows that these differ in their physio- 

 logical action. The yellow and adjacent rays cause 

 the decomposition of carbonic acid, and are active 

 in assimilation ; the blue and visible violet rays are 

 the causes of the movements of irritation ; whilst 

 the ultra-violet rays are those which produce in the 

 green leaves the substances out of which flowers are 

 developed. 



The Origin of Flowers. — If grasses are the 

 most ancient of true flowering plants, how can we 

 understand or believe the theory according to which 

 Grant Allen holds that wheat and grasses are florally 

 degraded lilies ? I need not add words to com- 

 plicate the question, which I put in as plain a form as 

 I can, in order that it may be answered, so as not to 

 give an air of absurdity to scientific teaching. — John 

 Gibbs. 



