PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 43 
jacent parenchyma, so that impressions upon the former may readily 
-be transmitted to the latter. The closing of the trap results from 
the comparatively permanent elastic tension of the largely fibrous 
external part of the leaf. It opens by counter-action of the paren- 
chyma of the upper or inner side, through turgescence; the closing 
results from the sudden diminution of the turgescence, in some 
unexplained way. In other words, the trap is held open, and at the 
proper moment is let go.” 
Fungi on the Bones of a Whale.—Mr. C. B. Plowright states that 
about a year ago a young whale was stranded near Lynn, and in due 
course the bones passed into the possession of a manure company, 
They have been exposed all the time to the weather, and during the 
spring and summer were covered abundantly by an orange Fusarium, 
as well as by certain moulds. The skull has been sawn in two, and 
from a crack in it sprang, during the autumn, a cluster of Agarics, 
very near, if not identical with, A. bullaceus, Fr., the main points of 
difference being the czspitose habit, and the margin of the pilei 
becoming striate or even corrugated as the plants dried. A few days 
ago, in the very centre of the cranium a cluster of Agaricus ostreatus, 
Jacq., made its appearance, apparently luxuriantly, upon a thin 
stratum of dry cerebral matter that lined the interior of the cavity.* 
Specks in the Cape Diamonds.—It seems that Dr. Cohen, of Heidel- 
berg, has examined the “specks” which are to be found in many of 
the crystals of diamonds from the Cape. He thought at first that 
they were particles of another modification of carbon. In a large 
diamond, weighing eighty carats, however, he discovered a crystal 
of specular iron, the larger faces of which lie parallel to the octa- 
hedral face of the diamond. Lustre, colour, and form (rhombo- 
hedral) all combine to identify it with specular iron, and the crystal in 
its habit closely resembles those occurring at St.Gothard. His paper, 
which was communicated to the Versammlung des Oberrheinschen 
geologischen Vereins, 1876, and is printed in the ‘Jahrbuch fir 
Mineralogie,’ 1876, contains some interesting observations on the con- 
nection existing between the flawed character and the colour of Cape 
diamonds. 
The Microscopic Zoology of the Arctic Expedition—We of course 
cannot tell when the report will be published, but we are glad to 
learn from a paper by Mr. H. A. Alston in the ‘ Academy,’ Novem- 
ber 11, that “every opportunity was embraced for dredging and 
trawling, and a fine collection of marine invertebrates is the result. 
Many of the minute pelagic forms which it is so difficult to preserve 
are the subjects of beautiful drawings by Dr. Moss, and a complete 
series of soundings illustrates the character of the sea-bottom from 
Baffin’s Bay up to 83° 19’ N. lat. Insect life was more abundant 
than could have been expected, and a good number of species were 
obtained. Botany has received full attention. Our explorers were 
rewarded by the discovery of between twenty and thirty species of 
phanerogamic plants between the parallels of 82° and 83°—a much 
* ‘Grevillea,’ Dec. 1876, 
