[51] 



Selccteb 1MotC6 from tbe Society's 

 1Rotc^BooF^0. 



Onosma Cuticle, prepared for the polariscope (PI. III., Figs. 

 I — 5), is a very pleasing object with a i-inch o.g., with blue sele- 

 nite or dark ground. The plant is not much grown, the flowers 

 being inconspicuous. A short account of the plant and stellate 

 hairs will be found in Science Gossip, 187 1, p. 83. If viewed as 

 an opaque object, fresh leaves should be used, as the hairs shrivel 

 to a certain extent, and most leaves deteriorate rapidly when 

 mounted dry. J. Carpenter, 



Eggs of Bot-Fly.— I have obtained several species of gadfly 

 this summer, and especially Gasierophilus equi, the bot-fly of the 

 horse. I send some eggs of this fly taken from the body of the 

 5 , and these show the grooves and filaments for attachment to 

 the hairs of the host in the itfunature egg. The cover is also 

 remarkably distinct (Plate VI., Fig. 7), and there is a hole, per- 

 fectly distinct, well seen in some of those on the slide, into which 

 a point on the cover probably fits, but I fail to see any corres- 

 ponding projection on the cover. I have just succeeded in 

 mounting an egg on the hair, showing the larva just emerging. 

 The lines on the surface are much more distinct on deposited 

 eggs. H. E. Freeman. 



Scales of Pteris aquilina are very similar to some of those so 

 numerous on the back of the frond of Ccterach officinarum, but the 

 latter fern has circular scales mixed with the ovate ones. 



H. F. Parsons. 



Section of Asparagus, to compare with section of sugar-cane 

 (Plate IV.). The asparagus is, so far as I know, the only British 

 plant, except the Butcher's Broom, whose stem exhibits the 

 typical endogenous pattern. H. F. Parsons. 



Shamrock.— Although the Irish of the present day use the 

 varieties of trefoil as the national emblem, the Oxalis acetosella 

 agrees with the description of the plant mentioned by early 

 writers, who state that it was eaten by the Irish and that it had a 

 sour taste. The trefoils or clovers could not have been thus 

 designated, as they do not answer the description, not being sour. 



S. A. Brenan. 



Spinnerets of Spider to Mount.— Put the spider in liquor 

 potassae for one night, then cut off the spinnerets with sharp scis- 

 sors, put then again in liquor potassae, and they will come clean. 

 Put them in glycerine and mount in jelly in a cell. W. LococK, 



