(166 THE MICROSCOPE. Dec. 
number in which isa description of the sword-moss, or 
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SCHENCE-GOS S1Pa 
Eggs of Insects.—The collection, preservation and ex- 
amination of the eggs of insects, will afford interesting 
recreation. Curtains, carpets, floor-crevices, cushions, 
furs and wollen garments will serve asa prolific hunting 
ground indoors; while out of doors the surface waters of 
ponds and water-butts, the corpses of birds, the skins of 
cattle, and the leaves and branches of the shrubberies 
give an abundance of material. Among those insects 
whose eggs make the most interesting microscopical 
mounts may be noted the common house-fly, the wasp, the 
tortoise-shell and the cabbage butterflies, the mottled um- 
ber and the puss moths, the dragon-fly, and most of the 
prarasites. The eggs of theseare of all shades hexagonal, 
conical, oval, spherical, and are most richly and harmon- 
iously colored; while the elaborately sculptured surfaces 
are hardly excelled in the beauty of their designs by the 
symmetry of the ciliated, winged and fringed ornamenta- 
tions with which they are surrounded.—Sctence- Gossip. 
Oysters.—The sudden disappearance of oysters from 
places where they were formerly numerous may be, in 
part, explained by arecent remarkable visitation in the 
harbor of Sydney, New South Wales. The water, in 
places, suddenly assumed the color of blood. This proved 
to be due to the invasion or rapid development of a micro- 
scopic Glenodium, which, ina few days, destroyed half of 
the animals near the land, and seriously injured the oys- 
ter-beds. 
Color-Reaction.—Nylander was one of the first to call 
the attention of biologists to the value of color-reaction in 
the study of the lichens. The three principal re-agents 
used by microscopists are, (1) iodine togive blue reactions; 
hypochlorite of lime togive red reactions; (3) hydrate of (2) 
