l82 



HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSS I P. 



HOW TO OBTAIN CUTICLES OF PLANTS. 



IN reply to "Beginner's" appeal for information 

 how to obtain the cuticles of leaves, &c., I 

 think that he will find the following method will, 

 with a little practice, enable him to prepare satis- 

 factory slides of the cuticles of Deutzia, Onosma, Alys- 

 sum, Hippophae, Equisetum, scalariform and spiral 

 vessels, &c. The apparatus required is not expensive 

 or numerous, a small porcelain cup or saucer holding 

 about an ounce, a spirit-lamp, a large watch glass, 

 two or three mounted bristles (I prefer a rabbit or 

 cat's whisker), the bristle should be about three- 

 quarters of an inch beyond the handle, a human hair 

 mounted so as to form a small loop, a " lifter " made 

 of a "thick" thin glass cover about three-quarter 

 inch diameter (this is more convenient, if three of its 

 sides are squared), this I cement to a piece of glass 

 tube J inch diameter and \ bore in the following 

 manner ; by filling about a quarter of an inch with 

 broken shellac, this must be carefully melted, and 

 then placed on the square edge of the cover which 

 should be hot. Chemicals : nitric acid and chlorate 

 of potash, and of course distilled water. 



The inodits operandi is as follows : select, say a 

 medium-sized Deutzia leaf (I prefer the leaf or stem 

 fresh), cut out a square, or in fact, any shape you 

 please, but take care to leave none of the margin, half 

 fill your cup or saucer with equal parts of nitric acid and 

 water. To this add a small pinch of the chlorate of 

 potash and gently boil over the lamp, carefully watch 

 the leaf, and when the upper and lower cuticles begin 

 to separate, remove them by means of the lifter into a 

 watch glass filled with distilled water ; the two cuticles 

 will sometimes separate of themselves, but much more 

 frequently require a little manipulation with the bristle 

 to separate them. This may be done by carefully 

 inserting it between them ; when separated, float the 

 lower cuticle on a thin cover, and with the hair loop 

 gently scrape off any remains of fibre, &c. The 

 upper cuticle may be cleaned whilst floating by scrap- 

 ing the under surface with the loop, when clean float 

 on to a glass slip (by upper and lower cuticle I mean 

 that which may be upwards or downwards in the cup). 

 I ma> here explain my reason for this, I usually find it 

 very difficult to turn the cuticle over, and as it is 

 always desirable to have the external surface upper- 

 most, it is necessary to mount one on the cover and 

 one on the slide. A more difiicult but better plan is 

 to leave one of the margins of the leaf intact, and 

 when clean float both cuticles on to the slide ; when 

 dry place the cover or the slide in turpentine, and 

 mount in Canada balsam. The siliceous cuticles of 

 equisetum stems, barley straw, cane, rice-husks 

 may all be obtained by this process, but they will 

 not bear drying, they must therefore be removed 

 first to strong methylated spirit, and then ether, and 

 lastly, turpentine. F. KiXTON, Hon. F.R.M.S. 



ENGLISH PLANTS IN JAMAICA. 



PERHAPS it may interest some of the readers 

 of Science-Gossip to learn how luxuriantly 

 the English wild strawberry {Fragaria vescd) 

 blooms and fruits during the greater part 

 of the year on the high mountains of Jamaica. At 

 the Government Cinchona Plantations (from five 

 thousand to six thousand feet high, on the slope 

 of the Blue Mountain chain) the strawberry is 

 the most plentiful weed, and costs the Government 

 many pounds yearly to try to eradicate it from 

 amongst the cinchona plants : but it soon shows its 

 head above ground again, and looks so pretty, with 

 its pendent luscious fruit, gleaming red and ripe in 

 the bright sunshine, that it scarcely seems like a weed, 

 and it is almost a pity, such a pretty plant and 

 delicious fruit has to be hoed up to give way to the 

 cinchona. 



It is a delicious fruit when newly gathered, but it 

 quickly loses its fresh flavour, which is not unlike 

 that of the cultivated strawberry, but a little more 

 acidulous. Of course the fruit is not so large, though 

 I have gathered some of extraordinary size, for a 

 wild fruit. 



At this elevation we also find the English butter- 

 cup (^Ranunculus acris), the gorse {Ulex Eiiropczus), 

 the chickweed, wild pansy, groundsel, black-berried 

 elder, nasturtium, white clover, sweet violet, the 

 English oak, and the ubiquitous bracken-fern in 

 large quantities, the latter being used to shade the 

 young Cinchona plants, in the nurseries and when 

 newly planted out ; and yet from the lawn in front 

 of our house, we can look down upon Kingston and 

 Port Royal, basking in the full blaze of the tropical 

 sun, with their groves of cocoanut-palms and ex- 

 panses of mangrove swamps. 



With all the English friends mentioned above, in 

 spite of the view over mountain-tops of the hot 

 plains, it can almost be imagined one is still an in- 

 habitant of a cooler clime, and often, about Christ- 

 mas-tide, sharp walks, tennis and brisk rides are not 

 sufficient to warm oneself, and it is very pleasant to 

 return home to the fire of cedar logs, burning 

 brightly on the hearth, and giving oft' a delightful 

 odour, and fires are especially grateful during the wet 

 seasons, when the sun hides his usually bright face 

 behind dense clouds, and he is again gladly welcomed 

 after his short' absences ; and then again with double 

 interest and renewed vigour, we watch the beautiful 

 effects of his red and golden setting rays, reflected 

 on the masses of fleecy white clouds lying in the 

 valleys at our feet, gradually creeping up the mountain 

 slopes, or putting a graceful snowy night-cap on the 

 head of Blue Mountain Peak and other highlands in 

 the neighbourhood. 



Daisy Morris. 



Jamaica. 



