Short Papers and Notes. Bre 
of this fallen forest, whose only rivals are the giants of the 
Yosemite and Calaveras, lie around in profusion, measuring from 
2 to ro ft. in diameter, containing all the colours of the rainbow, 
some of whose hearts are solid crystals of amethyst and topaz, 
and only a slight degree from the diamond in hardness. Every 
colour found in nature or the arts is reproduced in these fallen 
agatised monarchs. 
The Wasp, the Daddy=Longlegs, and the Robin. 
A correspondent at Hastings sends us the following anecdote : 
—Students of Nature see curious things, but we venture to think 
that such an experience as the following has been the lot of but 
few :—On one of the hot mornings with which we have been 
lately favoured four gentlemen sitting in the Alexandra Park at 
Hastings were surprised at seeing an insect, familiar to us in our 
childhood by the name of Daddy-longlegs, fall in front of them 
with a wasp on his back. The wasp hugged tenaciously, 
apparently inserting his sting deeply into the head of his prey. 
In the course of a minute or so the wasp flew away, and its victim 
with legs partly broken was slowly crawling to a neighbouring 
thicket, when, to the amusement of the onlookers, a large and 
impudent robin alighted on the ground about two yards from the 
injured insect. Eyeing the quartette somewhat impudently he 
gave two or three little hops in the direction of the coveted insect. 
Here he paused, made his bow, took a long hop, then two or 
three smaller ones, surveyed the spectators, seized the Daddy- 
longlegs in his beak, and was gone ere they had fully comprehended 
what he was about. After a good laugh it was remarked upon as 
being a fine illustration of the manner in which the dumb creation 
feed upon one another ; and one philosopher also remarked that 
it was a very good example of the manner in which we ourselves 
are sometimes treated, for no sooner have we got rid of one 
difficulty than we oftentimes meet with a worse. 
Diagnosing human Blood, 
Dr. H. D. Formad, in Journal of Comparative Medicine and 
Surgery, says :— “It can be regarded as established that the micro- 
scopist has ampleand sure means to diagnose fresh or well preserved 
human blood from that of certain animals, provided he has the 
proper experience and employs rightful and honest means.” He 
relies largely upon the microscope for this differentiation, using a 
1—18 Zeiss homogeneous immersion lens, which magnifies about 
2250 diameters. Micro-photographs made from this amplification, 
