90 



HARD WI CKE ' S S CIE NCE-GO SSI P. 



of hyperosmic acid for hardening, previous to cutting 

 sections. I have tried in vain to obtain this acid 

 in my own town, but the chemists do not seem to 

 understand what it is. I should be very much 

 obliged if some reader could tell me where I could 

 obtain this solution of the strength of \ to \ per cent., 

 or if any other medium would effect the purpose. I 

 also want to know how to harden such tissues as 

 stomach, intestine, eye, etc., of insects? — W. Henry 

 Pratt. 



Mounting Gizzards.— If your correspondent 

 W. L. Tall (p. 17) will gently "pull the head from the 

 body of the cricket, he will find that the alimentary 

 canal and gizzard will come with it. The gizzard 

 must then be cut open, treated with liquor potassse, 

 and mounted in balsam. Should he not succeed, I 

 should be pleased to prepare one for him. — J. Moore, 

 86 Porchester Street, Birmingham. 



Cleaning Microscopic Cover-Glass. — I had a 

 large quantity of such covers on hand, and was 

 endeavouring to get the best of them clean again for 

 further use with the usual great waste in breakages, 

 when some one suggested Why don't you boil them 

 in Hudson's Extract of Soap ? I never heard of such 

 a remedy, but, as a last resource, I thought I would 

 try it. To my great surprise two strong solutions of 

 this substance, kept at boiling point, quite dissolved 

 all the balsam and cements with which the covers 

 were thickly coated, and I found no further difficulty 

 in cleaning them. This hint may prove useful to 

 many persons who throw away their once used 

 covers, in the belief that, in the effort to clean them, 

 the breakages will be so numerous that " the game 

 will not be worth the candle." — S. J. Mclntire, 

 F.R.M.S. 



Liverpool Microscopical Society. — At the 

 ordinary meeting of this society, a paper was read by 

 Mr. Alexander Barrow, M.B., on the "Development, 

 Structure and Functions of the Eye." The lecturer 

 first described the structure of the human eye, and 

 then gave an account of the development of the eye 

 in the embryo, as exemplified in the chick, etc., and 

 concluded by explaining the optical functions of the 

 eye, its power of accommodation to light, distance of 

 objects, etc. etc. 



New Work on the Rotifera.— No work in 

 natural science has been wanted more than one on 

 the Rotifera or wheel-animalcules. These objects are 

 so common everywhere, and so beautiful, that it is 

 surprising their systematic study has not been taken 

 up before. Perhaps it is as well such has not been 

 the case, for both the hour and the men have now 

 arrived. No other naturalists could have been 

 better selected for such a work than Dr. C. T. 

 Hudson and Mr. P. H. Gosse, F.R.S. Both these 

 men have long been working at the subject inde- 

 pendently of each other, but fortunately they have 



been brought together, so that their combined labours 

 are now appearing in a magnificent work to be 

 completed in six parts at \os. 6d., and published by 

 Messrs. Longman. Parts I. and II. are before us, 

 and they fully realise all that has been anticipated. 

 This work on the Rotifera promises to be a fitting 

 companion to Saville Kent's "Manual of the Infu- 

 soria." Each part contains forty pages of text, and 

 two uncoloured and five coloured plates, all crowded 

 with figures. The latter are exquisitely drawn and 

 tinted, and every detail of structure is carefully 

 represented. Altogether, we may say of the present 

 work that it is one which gives us a genuine pleasure 

 to recommend to our readers. So far as the two 

 parts already published go we have six chapters, 

 which are as follows : 1st, Introduction to the 

 study of the Rotifera. 2nd, The history of the 

 literature concerning the Rotifera. 3rd, On the 

 classification of the Rotifera. 4th, On the haunts 

 and habits of the Rotifera. 5th, Flosculariadae. 

 6th, Melicetadre. The illustrations are devoted to 

 the species of these two orders. 



New Slides. — We have received a charming 

 object for microscopical examination from Mr. Fred 

 Enoch, in the shape of an ichneumon fly new to 

 Great Britain, Utetes testraceus, which was bred out 

 of a dipterous fly, in whose body the eggs had been 

 laid. Both with polarised light and by means of the 

 paraboloid, the muscles and general structure show 

 very plainly. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Hyalina Draparnaldi. — Mr. J. H. James has 

 lately sent me specimens of this species from Truro, 

 Cornwall, thus adding another county to the known 

 distribution of this species. He has also sent H. 

 glabra, H. alliaria, H. eellaria, H. nitidula, and H. 

 crystallina from the same locality, as also many other 

 interesting shells concerning which a report will be 

 sent in to the Practical Naturalists' Society in due 

 course. — T. D. A. Cockcrell. 



Abnormal Amceba. — Referring to Mr. E. C. 

 Bousfield's communication in March Science-Gossip, 

 there is no doubt in my own mind that the organism 

 I described in the January number of your journal 

 was a true Amceba, and not a plasmodium of one of the 

 Myxomycetes. I had ample opportunities for testing 

 this during the fortnight I had it under observation. 

 Its behaviour towards other smaller Amoebae, the 

 absence of cyclosis (Kent), and the obscurity of its 

 contractile vesicle (which in the Myxomycetes are 

 numerous) all point to its not being a Myxomycetan. 

 I had previously compared it with Kent, and have 

 since with Prantl and Vine, and my first view is 

 confirmed. My only query is to which species of 

 Amceba it belongs. — E. B. L. Bray ley, Clifton. 



