HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



139 



The lengthy Report of the British Association 

 Committee (edited by Mr. William Topley, F.G.S.) 

 on the " Erosion of the Sea-coasts of England and 

 Wales,*' has been published. It also contains a full 

 chronological list of books and papers on the subject, 

 compiled by Mr. William Whitaker, F.G.S. 



An extra number of the " Amateur Photographer " 

 has appeared, entitled " Home Portraiture Inter- 

 national Competition for 1SS6," and containing a 

 series of capitally executed facsimiles of photographs 

 taken by amateur photographers, with descriptive 

 letterpress. 



We are pleased to see that Mr. H. W. S. Worsley- 

 Benison's presidential address, delivered before the 

 Highbury Microscopical and Scientific Society, on 

 "Charles Darwin," has been reprinted from the 

 "Journal of Microscopy," etc. It is an admirable, 

 loving, and reverent study of a great man's life and 

 works, untainted by the slightest breath of fetishism. 



Mr. A. A. Wood, F.C.S., has published a very 

 useful little pamphlet, entitled "A Photograph, and 

 How to Take It," which must be of great use to 

 beginners. 



The event of the month has been the opening of the 

 Colonial and Indian Exhibition at South Kensing- 

 ton. The naturalist and geologist will there find an 

 excellent and various exhibition of animals, plants, 

 minerals, etc., characteristic of the different colonies. 

 Those from Australia are particularly interesting. 



In last month's "Entomologist" there is a figure 

 of an unknown African lepidopterous hairy cater- 

 pillar nearly six inches long ! A few of these would 

 not make bad crossing-sweepers. 



At a recent meeting of the Plertfordshire Natural 

 History Society, a mos f elaborate paper was read 

 by Mr. William Ransom, F.L.S., entitled "An 

 account of British and Roman remains found in the 

 neighbourhood of Hitchin." Mr. Ransom has been 

 successful in discovering an enormous and varied 

 number of remains. 



Under the title of " Lecture-Notes and Problems 

 on Sound, Light, and Heat," Mr. Charles Bird, B.A., 

 has issued a very useful and compendious note-book, 

 which will prove of much service to teachers as well 

 as students. 



In last month's number of the " Annals and 

 Magazine of Natural History " there is an account of 

 a Brazilian frog which does not deposit its eggs in 

 water, but in the leaves of willow-trees, each leaf 

 being then bent over so as to form a closed basket. 



We have received from Messrs. Dulau, 37 Soho 

 Squaie, W., their recently issued and very useful 

 catalogue of geolog ical, palaeontological, and minera- 

 lojjical works. 



Science in Lincoln is making strong way. During 

 the summer the new Schools of Science and Art will 

 be opened. They have been built at a cost of £"jooo. 



The eighth edition of "The London Catalogue of 

 British Plants " has just been published by Messrs. 

 G. Bell & Sons, 4 York Street, Covent Garden. 



All entomologists who have the chance should 

 read the annual address of Dr. C. V. Riley, delivered 

 before the Entomological Society of Washington, and 

 recently reprinted by Messrs. Gibson Bros., of that 

 city. 



Entomologists will be glad to learn that the 

 Rev.W. W. Fowler has placed in the hands of his 

 publishers (L. Reeve & Co.) the first portion of the 

 MS. of his new work on the British Coleoptera. A 

 large-paper edition with coloured plates is also pro- 

 posed, if adequate support can be obtained to justify 

 the large outlay that must necessarily be incurred for 

 artistic work. 



MICROSCOPY. 



New Slides. — We have received an admirably 

 mounted and most instructive slide from Mr. E. 

 Hinton, 12 Vorley Road, Upper Holloway, showing 

 vertical section of an entire foetal mouse, in which 

 are all the principal organs and structures, eye, ear, 

 brain, vertebra;, heart, lungs, kidney, spleen, in- 

 testines, etc. It is impossible for a young biologist 

 to work at a more profitable slide. Mr. J. Harbord 

 Lewis, of 145 Windsor Street, Liverpool, has also 

 sent us three of his fine Desmid mounts, with list of 

 species accompanying each slide. The richest slide 

 is from Capel Curig, and contains no fewer than 

 sixty-eight species alone. This is by far the best and 

 easiest way of studying the Desmids, especially if 

 the student have the means of referring to Dr. 

 Cooke's or Ralfs' works. 



Cole's "Studies in Microscopical Science." 

 — The fourth volume of this deservedly widely known 

 and most useful work is now commencing. It will 

 be divided into four sections as usual, viz. : Animal 

 and Botanical Histology, Pathological Histology, 

 and Popular Studies, all or any of which can be 

 separately subscribed for. No literary caterer for 

 microscopical students better deserves success than 

 Mr. Cole. 



Mr. Cole's New Slides. — We have received 

 three slides from Mr. A. Cole which deserve more 

 than passing notice. They are mounts of diatoms 

 in cassia oil alone, and are remarkable for the 

 sharpness and clear definition with which every line 

 and dot on the frustules stands out. The objects 

 include HcliopelUc, Navicula from Japan, Triceratium. 

 These slides establish the superiority of cassia oil as 

 a medium beyond doubt. 



