HARD WICKE 'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



7* 



part, eighty feet high. It is in the Dolomitic Con- 

 glomerate of the Trias. Messrs. Dawkins and Sand- 

 ford found here bones of hyaena, lion, bear, wolf, 

 fox, mammoth, two species of rhinoceros, horse, 

 Irish deer, red deer and reindeer, and human im- 

 plements of flint, chert, and bone, of contemporary 

 date. (Dawkins, Q. J. G. S., vol. xviii. p. 115; 

 vol. xix. p. 260 , Proc. Somerset Arch, and Nat. 

 Hist. Soc, vol. xi., part ii., pp. 197-219; and Geol. 

 Mag., vol. ii. p. 44.) — G. S. Bonlger. 



The Furniture Beetle. — I can mention another 

 instance of destruction to furniture by the " furniture- 

 beetle." Two years ago I found them working and 

 living in the frame of a sofa that has been about thirty 

 years in my possession. The sofa was taken out of 

 the house, and during three days was frequently 

 brushed with very strong carbolic acid. Last week I 

 examined it, and found fresh borings of this pest. 

 The sofa has a beechwood frame, 1 in. thick and faced 

 with mahogany half-inch thick. The insects have not 

 touched the mahogany, but in many places have bored 

 close up to it. I am now having the beechwood re- 

 moved, and mahogany substituted. Can anything be 

 devised (short of destroying the wood) that would kill 

 these destructive insects ? I fear that their habits 

 render liquid applications unable to touch them or 

 their eggs. — T. Hughes. 



The Freshwater Aquarium. — Scarcely a 

 number of Science-Gossip appears but contains 

 queries or notes on the above subject ; and, judging 

 from some of these queries and the replies to them, 

 aquarium-keeping on a small scale would appear to 

 the tyro an extremely difficult task. We are told 

 (" Ben Plant," July, 1877) to limit the plants to three 

 species, molluscs to two, and reptiles to exclude en- 

 tirely. Others have complained of sticklebacks eating 

 all their snails, and of killing each other. My own 

 opinion is that there is nothing in connection with 

 practical natural history involving less trouble than 

 aquarium-keeping. In giving this opinion, it is true 

 that it is not the result of so many years' experience 

 as some of your correspondents can boast, but it is 

 based upon seven or eight years' successful work. 

 With regard to the vessel which is to constitute the 

 aquarium, I believe this to be of minor importance, 

 and that, so far as the inhabitants are concerned, a 

 washing-tub will serve as well as an elaborately con- 

 structed plate-glass tank, though, of course, the latter 

 is the best adapted for observation. I think the chief 

 charm (and use also) of an aquarium lies in the fact 

 that we see various creatures living under natural 

 conditions. To make the conditions as natural as 

 possible, I would introduce most of the inhabitants of 

 an ordinary pond ; the exceptions would be only such 

 species as prey inordinately upon the others. Such, 

 as the aquatic coleoptera and hemiptera, and the 

 larvae of dragon-flies. I would admit all the pond 

 gasteropods ; the two species of newts {cristalus and 

 punctatus), and I certainly have not found it necessary 

 to limit the species of plants. The larvae of the 

 caddis-flies are interesting and amusing, and I cer- 

 tainly cannot agree with " S. " as to the difficulty of 

 rearing them to their final stage. The aquarium must 

 have walls, and as the caddis-worms have legs, they 

 can therefore have no difficulty in reaching the surface. 

 It is no uncommon thing, at the proper season, to see 

 several escaped caddis-flies hovering about my aqua- 

 rium. "P. E. C." is troubled because the stickle- 

 backs eat his snails. His best plan would be to feed 

 the fish with small worms, until the snails have had 

 time to increase in number ; this they will soon do at 

 such a rate as will defy the most voracious stickleback. 



Difficulties of this kind only occur at starting ; things 

 soon right themselves, and the ' ' balance of power " 

 is maintained. " S." thinks sticklebacks are the most 

 troublesome inmates of an aquarium. I would sub- 

 stitute " interesting " in place of "troublesome," and 

 I think Mr. Scott (Jan., 1878) has given " S." the 

 correct reason of his failure in keeping them. I believe 

 that all these difficulties are caused by having the in- 

 mates unnaturally select. With a plentiful and varied 

 supply of vegetation, a host of Entomostraca and In- 

 fusoria will be introduced, which will form an inex- 

 haustible food supply to the fish. The decaying plants 

 and animal exuviae will form a fine mud at the bottom, 

 in which the pretty little bivalve, Cyclas cornea, 

 annelids, &c, will find a congenial home. The water 

 should not be changed or disturbed. In spite of the 

 mud the water will neither be turbid nor odorous, and 

 the student can observe the habits of the inmates under 

 natural conditions. An aquarium, so conducted, may 

 not look so ornamental as an elegant glass vase with 

 a floor of scrupulously clean gravel, above which two 

 or three lazy gold-fish are slowly swimming round a 

 solitary plant ; but it will afford the microscopist or 

 biologist excellent opportunities of study. — Edward 

 Step. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip at least a week earlier than hereto- 

 fore, we cannot possibly insert in the following number any 

 communications which reach us later than the 9th of the 

 previous month. 



W. Wakefield. — ■ Your mosses are : — 1. Hypnum nndii- 

 laticm ; 2. Neckera crispa ; 3 and 4. Hypnum sericeum. 



W. A. C. — Your specimens are : — 1. Physcia parietina. ; 

 2. Evemia prunastri (both lichens) ; and 4. Hypnum squar- 

 rosum (a moss). 



F. T. M. — Your moss is Hypnum confertum. 



M. Skilton.— Your specimens are : — 1. Hypnum riparium ; 

 2. Bryum capillare ; 3. Hypnum rutabidum. 



J. C. Johnstone. — Your specimens are: — 1. Dicranella 

 heteromalla ; 2. Rhacomitrium heterostichum ; 3. R. 

 elliptic um ; 4. Orthothecium rufescens ; 5. Bryum criidum ; 

 6. B. bimutn ; 7. Rhacotnitrium lanuginosum . 



G. S. — Apply to the London Stereoscopic Company, Regent- 

 street, London ; or to James How & Co., 5, Bride-street, 

 London; or C. Baker, 244 and 245, High Holborn, London; 

 or J. H. Steward, 406, Strand, London, and inform them of 

 the kind of lantern slides you require. 



C. Swatman. — The article you refer to has not yet appeared. 



C. Harris. — The following are the names of the zoophytes 

 sent:— 1. Flusta ? 2 and 3. Sertularia polyzonia ; 4. Sertu- 

 laria operculata ; 5. Antennularia antennina. 



A. W. P. — We do not think your chrysalides will harm under 

 the circumstances. 



A Constant Subscriber. — A facsimile reprint of Walton's 

 " Compleat Angler" has been issued by Messrs. Eliot Stock. 

 Frank Buckland's " Popular History of British Fishes " is 

 cheap and good. Couch's "British Fishes" is our best and 

 largest book on the subject. 



T. Q. C. — The fungus is called Peziza autaiitium. 



J. K. — Your sponge specimen is Halic/iondria (or Chalitia) 

 oculata. 



The Botanical Exchange Club. — Those members who 

 may be still waiting for return parcels are requested to bear 

 the delay, which has been owing to the severe illness of the 

 Secretary. No time will be lost in distributing the parcels as 

 soon as possible. 



W. B. — The present address of the South London Entomo- 

 logical Society is the South Metropolitan Temperance Hall, 

 Blackfriars-road, S.E. 



K. D. (Almondsbury). — Your shells are : 1. Clausilia 

 Zaminata ; 2. Balia perversa ; 3. Cochlicopa lubrica ; 4. 

 Bulimus ; 5. Pupa marginata ; and 6. Siiccinea putris. _ . 



J. Sims. — The "coloured matter" sent was doubtless iron 

 oxide, produced perhaps by the decomposition of the argillaceous 

 carbonate of iron nodules often so abundant in the coal mea- 

 sures. The piece of limestone shale is of carboniferous age, 

 and is impressed with Pt-oducta, Ortkis, and Rhynconella. 



R. M. Christy. — We have no doubt that a published list of 

 British marine shells for labelling cabinet specimens, &c, may 

 be had of Van Voorst, publisher. A cheap book on bird and 

 animal stuffing is that published by F. Warne & Co., price 

 one shilling. 



