HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



43 



Mr. J. W. Slater has demonstrated that cater- 

 pillars are affected by magnetic currents, which 

 hinder their development, and even kill them. His 

 experiments were conducted on the larYae of the 

 Cabbage White. The non-magnetised larvae from 

 the same brood were all right. 



We have received No. 70 of the useful " Natural 

 History and Scientific Book-Circular" of Messrs. 

 William Wesley & Son, of 28, Essex Street, Strand. 



We observe that the Herbarium of the late Mr. 

 J. F. Robinson, the well-known Cheshire botanist, 

 is offered for sale. This is an opportunity to get an 

 admirably preserved collection of plants not often 

 presented. 



Mr. T. Meehan, the well-known American 

 botanist, holds that the spines of cactuses, which 

 are simply modified leaves, and have hitherto been 

 regarded as protective against browsing animals, have 

 another defensive function — that of breaking the 

 force of the sun on the plant, and of practically 

 lowering the temperature. 



Dr. Hansgirg has shown that many genera of 

 Algae are polymorphic, and that many so-called 

 special forms may develop one out of another. 



We have to welcome another monthly candidate 

 •for public recognition — " The Scientific Inquirer," 

 edited by Mr. Alfred Allen. It is intended to be a 

 medium through which the reader may ask for and 

 obtain information on every scientific subject. 



Mr. Robert Paulson encloses us a specimen of 

 milk-wort {Potygala vulgaris) gathered in flower at 

 Orr, near Hastings, on the 5th of January. 



Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. announce 

 for early publication a " Pocket Handbook to the 

 Flora of the Alps," specially adapted for botanical 

 tourists, and edited by Mr. A. W. Bennett. 



Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, F.G.S., is about to 

 ssue a work (in parts) on " British Petrography," 

 with coloured plates by Messrs. Watson Bros. 



Mr. G. A. Musgrave, F.R.G.S., has formed a 



Bird Preservation League, the members of which 



pledge themselves neither to purchase birds of 

 beautiful plumage, nor to shoot rare birds. 



In the "Transactions of the Entomological So- 

 ciety " for December there appears a lengthy and well 

 written account, by Mr. Frederick Enock, of " The 

 Life-history of Atypus piccus." Mr. Enock discovered 

 this rare and beautiful spider on Hampstead Heath. 



Mr. F. N. Williams, F.R.S., has published in 

 •the "Journal of Botany" an enumeration of the 

 genera and species of the genus Dianthus. 



A monograph on the Recent Brachiopoda, by 

 the late Thomas Davidson, LL.D., F.R.S., edited 



by Agnes Crane, will be issued in three parts, with 

 thirty quarto plates, during 18S6, and will form a sepa- 

 rate volume of the "Transactions of the Linnoean 

 Society of London." 



M. Charles Joly has re-published his " Notes on 

 the Giant Eucalyptuses of Australia " (illustrated). 



A LENGTHY and elaborate paper on " British 

 Lizards " has been read before the Warrington Field 

 Club, and re-published, by Mr. Linnreus Greening. 



"The Moon and the Weather" is the title of a 

 pamphlet written by Mr. Walter L. Browne. In it 

 the author re-considers the probability of lunar 

 influences, and forecasts the storms for the current 

 year. 



Professor Main, well known as the author o: 

 various books on the marine steam-engine, died on 

 the 28th of December last. 



One hundred and fifty tree-ferns (represented by 

 four species) have been forwarded from the Melbourne 

 Botanic Gardens by Mr. W. R. Guilfoyle, F.L.S., to 

 form a "Fern-Gully" at the forthcoming Colonial 

 and Indian Exhibition. 



We are profoundly distressed to notice the death 

 of an old friend, the eminent geologist, Professor 

 Morris, for twenty-two years Professor of Geology at 

 University College. He was a born teacher, full of 

 love for his work, and possessed with the power of 

 inoculating others with the same feeling. His death 

 will be mourned by geologists all over the world. 



MICROSCOPY. 



Instantaneous Microphotography. — Mr. D. 

 S. Holman has recently made some very important 

 experiments in microphotography. Having suc- 

 ceeded in taking microphotographs of rapid vibra- 

 tions, he determined to attempt to photograph the 

 Amaba protcus, and other low forms of life, while 

 in motion. His method was as follows : Having 

 enclosed the material in one of the Holman Life 

 Slides, and allowed it to remain until the Amoeboe 

 had become accustomed to their new home and 

 active, he cast an image of an Amoeba on the ground 

 glass of a camera, by means of a Holman Lantern 

 Microscope, which is illuminated with the oxy- 

 hydrogen light. A Zeutmayer one-fifth objective 

 was used. A dry plate picture was then taken with 

 about one-hundredth of a second exposure. Two 

 exposures were made of one Amoeba at intervals of 

 three minutes, and one exposure of two Amoeba; in 

 the field at one time. The photographs were a com- 

 plete success, and were shown at a recent meeting 

 of the Franklin Institute magnified ten thousand 



