HA RD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



171 



found in equal plenty to-day in the same locality. 

 There are still some half-dozen forms which I fully 

 expect to find as time goes on. Meanwhile the 

 record stands as follows : — 



Species of Roestelia 



,, Peridermium . 

 ,, CEcidium 



Total in Order (Ecidiacei 



1 



26 



Other Orders are equally rich, as I hope to show 

 on another occasion. I shall be pleased to exchange 

 notes and specimens with other workers in micro- 

 fungi. 



Hilderic Friend. 



NOCTLLUCA; THE COLOUR OF THE RED 

 SEA, ETC. 



IN 1882, in the Persian Gulf, I noticed the unusual 

 brilliancy of the phosphorescence mentioned by 

 Captain Wilson- Baker. On a calm night the vessel 

 churned up a milky wake that was visible for several 

 hundred yards. Often, when a shoal of dolphins 

 came along, their tracks under water could be very 

 distinctly traced. We used to wash decks after dark, 

 when I always had a shower-bath under the hose. 

 The water came out of the nozzle like a fountain of 

 sparks, reminding me of a Roman candle, and my 

 whole body seemed luminous. But the most beautiful 

 effect of the kind I ever saw was in leaving the Gulf i 

 in the teeth of the south-west monsoon. The waves I 

 were immense, and looked, in the darkness, like 

 mountains of molten silver. Occasionally one would 

 come on board, flooding the whole deck, which would 

 then be resplendent. 



It used to be the custom for the captains of the 

 ships anchored at Aden to race back to their ships at 

 night, and we used to be able to watch one another's 

 progress, by the phosphorescent gleams stirred up by 

 the oars. 



The Persian Gulf struck me more than any other 

 water as being particularly full of marine life. At 

 times the water seemed thick with curious Medusae, 

 the commonest form of which was a rope-like string of 

 annular jelly-fish of various colours (in shape like red 

 blood corpuscles). The yellow sea-snakes were to be 

 seen basking on the water within a few yards of the 

 ship. Pteropods, too, would flap about like butter- 

 flies. Immense shoals of dolphins were always playing 

 about the ship, affording much sport with the revolver. 

 Shoals of flying-fish would come on board at night. 



The appearance of " clotted blood," mentioned by 

 Captain Wilson-Baker, I have never seen in the Gulf, 

 though in the Red Sea acres (I am afraid to write 

 miles) of this or a similar substance are common 

 enough. I have always thought that this substance 



gave the Red Sea its name. In this sea there is a 

 phenomenon called the "white sea." It is described 

 as a milky whiteness overspreading the whole expanse, 

 occurring in January and February, and only visible 

 in the day-time. I have never been fortunate enough 

 to witness it myself, though I spent more than a year 

 on its shore some years ago. It has occurred to me, 

 however, that this appearance may be due to some 

 atmospheric cause, as I remember once in the Gulf 

 of Bothnia, on a very hot still day, the whole sea 

 seemed like a white burnished mirror, the horizon 

 merging into the sky, and no distinct line being 

 visible. Ships seen hull down, and therefore inti- 

 mating the position of the horizon, seemed higher up 

 in the air than one would naturally have expected 

 them. This appearance I attributed to the haze. If 

 any one could give another solution to the "white 

 sea" in the Red Sea, I for one should be much 

 interested. 



Lionel E. Adams. 



SCLEROSTOMA DUODENALE : A HUMAN 

 PARASITE. 



By Haygarth Addison, L.R.C.P., 



Licentiate of the facility of Physicians and Surgeons oj 

 Glasgow ; Author of " An Essay on the Human Shin," "A 

 short Account of Leprosy," etc. 



THIS worm affects man, and is found in the 

 intestinal canal. The upper portion of the 

 tube is the part affected, though in some cases many 

 feet of the small bowel may furnish a habitation for 

 this small parasite. The worm is cylindrical in form, 

 and measures when full-grown about four-tenths of 

 an inch in length. " The males and females are 

 equal in this respect, but the former are much more 

 slender than their companions, and may be addition- 

 ally distinguished, even with the naked eye, by the 

 corolla-like expansion of the caudal extremity, 

 whence (under the microscope) the hair-like double 

 penis may sometimes be seen projecting " (Bristow). 

 The mouth of the parasite, which is turned towards 

 the dorsal surface, is large, strong, quadrilateral in 

 shape, and armed with eight teeth. The females 

 are very prolific, and the eggs are hatched after 

 their escape from the bowels. The worms attach 

 themselves firmly by the mouth to the inner lining 

 of the bowel so firmly, that the head of the parasite 

 remains after the body of the worm has been detached 

 by the bowel contracting upon the food ingested. 

 The worm lives on the blood which it sucks from the 

 inner coat of the bowel, after the manner of the 

 common leech. The numbers present at any one time 

 vary from many hundreds downwards. Dr. Tarona, 

 of Varese, counted as many as 1250 specimens in the 

 evacuations of a single patient, after the administra- 

 tion of the extract of the common male fern, which is a 



2 



