HA RD WICKE 'S S CIENCE ■ GOSSIP. 



i37 



much better for microscopic work than a large one, 

 for we can hold one vip to the light with one hand 

 and use the dipping-tube with the other. We are 

 able to keep a better and more varied assortment, 

 and the depth is better for dipping. Anatomical 

 specimen-jars and beakers I find to be most con- 

 venient, but wide-mouthed bottles maybe substituted 

 on account of cheapness. I have usually about thirty 

 in use, some of them being very small, and I never 

 find it necessary to change the water. Covers of 

 muslin, cardboard, paper, or glass can be used. 

 Among the plants I find to be useful are Elodca 

 canadensia, species of Chara, Callitriehe verna, Sca- 

 pania undulata, Pilularia globidifera, Moniiafontana, 

 and species of bog and water Hypna. — Wm. West, 

 Bradford. 



Small Aquarium for Microscopic Objects. — 

 It is likely that W. D. B. may have some difficulty 

 in finding his animalculce, &c, if he should put them 

 into a tank of thirty inches length and proportionate 

 depth and breadth. I recommend him to make 

 much smaller ones upon the following plan : — buy at 

 the grocers some of the empty tin boxes which have 

 held between two and three pounds of Huntley & 

 Palmer's Water Biscuits (mind, Water), cut out the 

 ends and sides, leaving a framework sufficient to sup- 

 port the glass, and you have at once the skeleton of a 

 handy and well-proportioned tank. Cement the 

 glass with a mixture of red and white lead, let it set 

 for two or three days, then fill the tank with water 

 and let it remain for a week, so that the taint of the 

 lead may be removed ; empty out, put a layer of well- 

 washed Calais sand at the bottom, and the tank is ready. 

 Mount it upon a slab of wood, and put four slips of 

 thin wood to retain it in position. The tin frame 

 should have two coats of paint or Brunswick black. 

 I prefer the latter.—^. P. W. 



Canada Balsam in India. — Will slides mounted 

 in balsam stand the heat of India ? Would it be suffi- 

 cient to surround the cover with some heat-resisting 

 cement ? If balsam will not do, what other medium 

 Mill ?—//. F. Blaekttt. 



The Hackney Microscopical Society. — This 

 society, which specially devotes itself to the study of 

 microscopy and natural history, has just issued its first 

 annual report. We are glad to see abundant signs of 

 vigorous health, although the society is only a year 

 old. The president is Mr. H. Ramsden, M.A., 

 F.L.S. ; and the hon. secretary, Mr. Collis Willmott. 

 The list of members is numerous, and includes many 

 names well known in science. Papers on various 

 natural history subjects, chiefly entomological, have 

 been read, and five field excursions made during the 

 summer. The foundation of a good natural history 

 library has also been laid, and with such a start we 

 shall look forward with interest to the progress of 

 ihe society during its second year. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Uraniid.-e. — At a recent meeting of the Zoo- 

 logical Society, Professor Westwood communicated 

 a memoir on the Uraniida:, a family of Lepidopterous 

 insects, with a synopsis of the family, and a mono- 

 graph of one of the genera, Coronidia. These insects 

 were remarkable for their extreme beauty, and the 

 difficulty which had attended their systematic classifi- 

 cation. Their relations with other groups of Lepido- 

 pterous insects were discussed at considerable length, 

 and their numerous affinities were shown to be with 

 certain other moths belonging to the great division of 

 the Bombyces, whilst their connection with the Hes- 

 perian butterflies, the Pseudo-sphinges, Erebideous 

 Noctre and Ourapterygeous Geometra2 was disproved 

 by their general structure, the venation of their wings, 

 and their transformations. A synopsis of the species 

 of all the genera was given, and a complete mono- 

 graph with figures of the genus Coronidia. 



The Brachiopoda of the Atlantic. — At the 

 same meeting Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., F.Z.S., 

 read a paper on the above subject. The areas from 

 which the Brachiopoda were obtained were restricted 

 to portions of the North Atlantic, including the 

 Mediterranean. A table of all the Brachiopods known 

 to inhabit the European seas was given, comprising 

 ten genera and twenty-two species, of which latter 

 four were for the first time described, and six figured. 

 The table also particularized the geological and ba- 

 thymetrical range of all the species. Two plates 

 accompanied the paper, and were furnished by 

 Mr. Davidson. 



Mimicry in Birds. — Mr. J. Young writes to 

 Nature to say that in a tract of land on the coast of 

 Kent called Reculver Marsh, the place is much fre- 

 quented by skylarks and plovers, and that almost all 

 the larks have incorporated the well-known alarm- 

 note of the plover into their song. Professor Newton 

 remarks that this fact has already attracted notice ; 

 for at Thetford, in Norfolk, where the ringed plover 

 is common, skylarks often mimic its peculiar cry. 

 Starlings are said to have acquired the cries of various 

 kinds of birds, notably those of the plover and 

 swallow. Jays are also stated to imitate the note of 

 the carrion-crow. 



The Nightingale in Derbyshire. — Pray let 

 me note to you, and through Science-Gossip to 

 others, the pleasing fact that a nightingale has made 

 its appearance here, and has been nightly for the 

 past week (and is still) singing its sweet song close to 

 this village. It is but seldom that the nightingale 

 visits Derbyshire at all, and this is the first time, so 

 far as my knowledge goes, of its ever having come so 

 far north in our county as Winster, which, as you are 

 aware, is in the Peak district. It will be well, with 

 your permission, to make known this visit through 

 Science-Gossip. — Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., &c. 



