SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



109 



MICROSCOPY 



Mr. Walter P. Young, of 251, Lavender Hill, 

 London, S.W., has forwarded his list of Micro- 

 chemical re-agents, staining fluids and mounting 

 media, which may be useful to microscopists. 



A new microscopical journal has just made its 

 appearance at Leipzig, called " Zeitschrift fiir 

 angewandte Mikroskopie." It is edited by G. 

 Markmann, and is published, in German, once a 

 month, by Robert Thost. 



Vegetable Sections. — Your correspondent, 

 I. Stephenson (ante page 81), will obtain Dr. S. 

 Marsh's "Section-Cutting" I believe from C. 

 Collins, 157, Great Portland Street, London, W. 

 I see in the catalogue it is advertised at 3s. 6d. 

 Referring to the difficulty of fixing the stains on 

 vegetable sections, he will be more successful in 

 using cedar oil, instead of clove oil. It does not 

 dissolve the colour so rapidly as clove oil. — Walter 

 Newton, 33, Brunswick Terrace, Macclesfield; Mav 6th, 

 1895. 



Vegetable Sections. — Your correspondent, 

 Mr. I. Stephenson, finds a difficulty in fixing the 

 stain in his vegetable sections (ante page 81). 

 Some kind of mordant is necessary to render an 

 aniline stain permanent. Dr. Marsh recommends 

 tannic acid, 1 drm. of the acid in 2 ozs. of methy- 

 lated spirit, the product being filtered. The 

 sections having been bleached and washed, after 

 a preliminary soaking in alcohol, should be placed 

 for about one minute in the tannic fluid and thence 

 transferred to the dye. A copy of Dr. Marsh's 

 work on "Micro-Section Cutting," may perhaps 

 be obtained from Mr. Charles Collins, Scientific 

 Bookseller, 157, Great Portland Street, London. — 

 Major J. Stuart, St. Peters, Jersey ; May, 5, 1895. 



Conochilus volvox. — As most, if not all, of the 

 microscopists with whom I have come in contact 

 seem unable to keep this favourite rotifer for any 

 length of time, some even saying they rarely get it 

 home safely, the following experience of mine may 

 be of interest. On December 24th, 1S94, I obtained 

 a good number from a very small roadside pool at 

 High Beech, Epping Forest, and I have some still, 

 in spite of repeated subtractions from their number 

 for exhibition. They were brought home in a ten- 

 ounce screw-capped bottle, with a small sprig of 

 Myriophyllum, sp., and placed in a window facing 

 north. Part of the water was emptied out, leaving 

 about six ounces. Since then they have had no 

 attention ; the water has not been changed nor 

 added to. evaporation being prevented by the cap. 

 During the great frost the water was frozen nearly 

 solid for several days. I am inclined to think my 

 success is due to the weed. It has not only aerated 

 the water, but has formed a congenial resting-place 

 for the rotifers, which, although free swimming, 

 take a considerable amount of rest. They 

 frequently remain attached to the weed for hours. 

 — Alfred II'. Dennis, 4S, Mansfield Road, London, 

 N.E.; May 16th, 1895. 



Rook Stealing Chicken. — This morning a rook 

 descended into a field where chickens are bein^ 

 reared, and, seizing one of the number, carried it off 

 in its beak to safe quarters, there I suppose to 

 enjoy at leisure. Is this a usual thing for a rook- 

 to do ? — A . Binns, Dean Lane, Sowerby, Sowerby 

 Bridge; May 16H1, 1895. 



Biology in Essex. — Mr. David Houston, the 

 Essex County Biologist, keeps " Biology Notes," 

 the organ of the County Technical Laboratories, 

 Chelmsford, well up in interest. We are pleased 

 to find that besides residents in the county, to 

 whom it is sent free on pay-ment of postage, non- 

 residents can now purchase this interesting monthly- 

 magazine for threepence per copy. 



Caddis Worms. — What are the best means of 

 preserving caddis worms in an aquarium, so as to 

 see the various transitions, particularly- from pupal 

 to imago ? What are the best books published 

 on the order Neuroptera ? I have looked many- 

 catalogues through, and the only article I have 

 seen is in Science-Gossip for 1868. — A. Binns, 

 Dean Lane, Sowerby, Sowerby Bridge ; May 16th, 1S95. 



Recent Dendritic Crystals. — I send you a 

 good example of dendritic crystals in paper, which 

 cannot be more than about six years old. The 

 paper is the white " Hieratica " commonly used for 

 note-paper. This is of interest, in view of Mr, 

 Tait's suggestion (Science-Gossip, N. S., Vol. i., 

 page 86) that he never met with specimens in recently- 

 produced books. The fronds of crystals are in this 

 instance of ordinary character, surrounding a small 

 nucleus. — W. H. Nunney, Bloomsbury; May 6th, 1S95. 



Woodpigeons nesting by the Strand. — A 

 pair of woodpigeons have built a nest, and one of 

 the birds might have been seen incubating the eggs, 

 during the last week of April and into May, in the 

 branches of a plane-tree in Clement's Inn, London. 

 The bough is overhanging the grass adjoining 

 the Law Courts in the Strand. A constant stream 

 of people was passing all daylong just beneath the 

 birds, which have lost all their natural shyness, now 

 that they have become citizens of this great 

 metropolis. — John T. Carrington. 



Helix nemoralis as Ornament. — The old 

 women at Bundoran, who sell odds and ends to the 

 visitors, made, when I was a child in the early- 

 sixties, and I believe still make, necklaces of the 

 shells of Helix nemoralis — about a hundred shells 

 in each— which they sell for threepence or four- 

 pence a necklace. Do your readers know if this is 

 carried on elsewhere. It is apparently the only 

 place in north or north-west of Ireland where it is 

 done. The main varieties, such as the bandless 

 forms of the same colours are strung together, as 

 are the banded varieties. They also use Helix 

 acuta for small necklaces. It may be that this 

 custom is a survival from ancient times, as so many 

 other old customs have come down, on the West 

 Coast of Ireland. — II". Welch, 49, Lonsdale Street, 

 Belfast. 



