HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE -GO SSI P. 



147 



Therao. The latter word spelt with an eta, and there- 

 fore as long as daylight on the arst of June. 



But the real difficulty, especially in Greek words, 

 or words derived from the Greek, arises from the 

 conflict between accent and quantity, the true prin- 

 ciples of reconciling which are as yet but very imper- 

 fectly understood. Thus, I can even find an excuse 

 for some persons who will pronounce the i in Veronica 

 short, although they know its origin (from Vera cikon), 

 and that the i represents the diphthong ei. But then 

 the Italians throw back the accent and call the Saint 

 Santa Veronica (with the accent on the o), which has 

 the effect, to careless ears, of making the i seem short. 

 But no such excuse can be offered for making the i in 

 Hypericum (from kuper cikon) short, or the e long. In 

 words like Conium, Geranium, Hieracium, &c, in- 

 deed accent has beaten quantity out of the field ; and 

 despite the fact that the i in these words represents 

 the necessarily long diphthong ei, we always pro- 

 nounce according to accent, which is thrown back on 

 the ante-penultimate, just as we do in speaking of 

 Alius, or Alexandria, although in the original Greek 

 the words are Areios, Alexandria. But what are we 

 to do in such a case as Sisymbrium Sophia ? Are we 

 to pronounce the /, according to accent, long, as we 

 do in the common female Christian name, or short, 

 according to its quantity, as we do in pronouncing 

 Philosophia. And the worst of it is, that even in this 

 matter of accent we are so abominably capricious. 

 Thus the tendency in English to throw back the 

 accent will perhaps account for our making the o in 

 anemone short. But why, in the world, in defiance 

 of this tendency, and against every rule of quantity, 

 do we make the a in Clematis, and the o in Gladiolus^ 

 long? 



After all, however, as the great majority of com- 

 munications upon botanical subjects are made in 

 writing, it matters only to a few professors, who are 

 called on to deliver lectures orally, and their pupils, 

 how the words are pronounced. But as they are re- 

 garded as authorities, and their practice gradually rules 

 that of the ordinary run of students and amateurs, it 

 is a great pity that the leading men amongst them' do 

 not establish some agreement between themselves as 

 to the principles which should for the future prevail 

 in the pronunciation (and, I would add, the forma- 

 tion) of classical and pseudo-classical words, adopted, 

 or to be adopted, into the botanical vocabulary.— 

 Ciias. Browne. 



Aquilegia.— This word is generally believed to 

 be derived from the Latin root Aqnila, an eagle Is 

 this correct? Is it not rather obtained from an old 

 word, Aqmlegium, signifying a gathering of water. 

 1 he spurs of the petals are often partly filled with 

 water, or some honied secretion ; in early times they 

 may have been thought to be to collect rain or dew 

 hence its subsequent generic name ; but the resem- 

 blance in any way to an eagle must be very far- 

 fetched ; besides, look at the long terminology if it is 

 really derived from Aquila. 



THE TEETH OF THE BLOW-FLY. 

 By the Rev. L. G. Mills, LL.D., F.R.M.S., & c . 

 ~\URING the summer of last year I made a 

 ! J^ careful examination of the proboscis of the 

 Blow-fly, with a view to determine the particulars of 

 its structure, and to discover the causes of the diffi- 

 culties* which have been felt by some, in their 

 endeavours to get a clear and distinct view of the 

 teeth, and their failure to trace them in the position 

 which they are now well known to occupy. 



I was the more anxious to make this examination, 

 because, long before Mr. Suffock or Dr. Lowne had 

 given any account of these teeth, I had been very 

 successful in mounting many specimens of the entire 

 proboscis, upon Mr. Topping's plan, and, quite 

 satisfied with my performance, and the beautiful view 

 of the general structure, I did not observe anything 

 to lead me to suspect even the existence of teeth in 

 these preparations. However, when I read Mr. 

 Suffock's paper, as given in vol. i. of the " Monthly 

 Microscopical Journal," and having studied the illus- 

 trations there given, I re-examined my preparations, 

 and, on a few of them, I was able to verify the 

 account, and clearly to see the teeth as figured in the 

 ' 'Microscopical Journal." The causes of my failure to 

 discover the teeth until my attention was directed to 

 the fact of their existence, may have some relation to 

 the difficulties that are still felt by some to see them, 

 and their vain endeavours to trace them, even with 

 the knowledge of their position, and on slides of 

 especially prepared dissections. 



I desire therefore to give the reasons for these diffi- 

 culties as they appear to me ; to give a clear figure 

 and explanation of the structure of the teeth ; and to 

 give a method of preparation whereby even the un- 

 skilled operators may succeed in mounting simple 

 dissections that will give very distinct and unmistak- 

 able views of them in their position, and show their 

 particular structure. 



In whatever way the proboscis may be mounted, 

 it is important to observe that the pseudo-trachea; be 

 upwards,— that is, next to the thin covering glass. A 

 mistake on this point would, of itself, be sufficient to 

 prevent any clear view of at least two of the three 

 rows of teeth. The object is usually examined with 

 a quarter-inch object-glass, and by the aid of trans- 

 mitted light. 



Now, it is plain from the nature of the proboscis, 

 that the light from the mirror must pass through the 

 two membranes of lips before it can fall upon the 

 teeth. One of these membranes, the lower, appears 

 to be thickly dotted with dark spots, clue to a num- 

 ber of hairs that are closely set on that membrane, 

 and two of the rows of teeth, at their free ends, are 

 very transparent, and pale in colour, and they 



* Science-Gossip, Vol. XII. page 69. 

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