SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



305 



successful, but a somewhat simpler medium 

 answers admirably in this case. Take a small 

 phial or test-tube, about half fill it with water 

 acidified with a little acetic acid, and add acetate 

 of copper, shake and allow it to settle ; if the 

 amounts are just right the liquid should appear 

 of a clear blueish-green, with a little sediment at 

 the bottom, showing that it is a saturated solution. 

 It is, perhaps, an advantage, though not indispens- 

 able, to add about twenty-five per cent, of a saturated 

 solution of salicylic acid as a defence against fungi. 

 Pour the upper clear part off into a bottle for use. 

 Now take the specimens, wash clean, and place in 

 a little water in a watch-glass, add a few drops of 

 the above fluid, and allow to stand for some hours, 

 then add more of the fluid, allow to stand again, 

 next dilute some glycerine with the same acetate 

 solution and put a few drops with the specimens, 

 after an interval repeating the application. The 

 object of this method is that the protoplasm 



may not be contracted by rapid withdrawal of 

 cell sap — technically plasmolysis — which would be 

 the case if a dense fluid were added to the water 

 too suddenly; the more slowly the process takes 

 place the better the result. A still more simple 

 method of preservation is to substitute a weak 

 solution of sulphate of copper alone for the acetate 

 and acetic acid, but the result is somewhat less 

 satisfactory. The specimens thus prepared may be 

 mounted in glycerine or glycerine jelly. If the 

 latter is used it should be thinned with a little of 

 the acetate or sulphate solution, as it is always too 

 thick as sold by the dealers; it should only just 

 set, when at the temperature of an ordinary warm 

 dwelling-room. 



I shall be pleased to forward specimens of the 

 Lyngbya here described, if still obtainable when this 

 appears, to anyone sending address and stamp for 

 postage. 



9, Agamemncm Road, West HampiteaA. 



NOTES OF A HOME NATURALIST. 



By Mrs. Emily J. Climenson. 



' I ''HE terrible frost of January 17th (sixteen 

 degrees registered) played great havoc with 

 aquarium objects. The frost-crystals on the panes 

 of the windows the ensuing morning were of the 

 usual type, resembling vineyards, hop-gardens 

 and bowers of fern-like tracery. On entering our 

 stable I was astonished to see the frost-marking on 

 the windows. A bold but exquisitely delineated 

 pattern of acanthus-leaves was to be seen, drawn 

 too accurately and beautifully for any human hand. 

 The windows face due west, but are in an exposed 

 situation, and the stable is very cold. I have never 

 seen this frost-pattern before. I should say the 

 acanthus-like leaves on the top measured from 

 three to four inches across, then broke into a sort 

 of stem, to be succeeded by another leaf or portion 

 thereof, all precisely the same pattern. What 

 struck me as singular was that all the heads of the 

 so-called leaves bent from right to left, or south- 

 wards. January iSth was succeeded by three days 

 of lesser degrees of freezing, but intensely cold wind. 

 I had broken the ice at the top of the aquaria, and 

 covered them with blankets, they being placed in 

 a brick, octagonal summer-house here. Despite of 

 this, n.y poor boatman (Notonecta glaucaj died 

 on January 19th, doubtless unable to breathe. 

 I had kept a pair, which I had caught the third 

 week in October, and placed in a glass jar to see 

 how long I could keep them alive. One died soon, 

 but the other flourished, and got quite tame, fasten- 

 ing on food at once when given. I also placed two 

 Ilybius ater beetles in a jar, and two young efts, or 



water-newts, with branchiae in another. After this 

 frost the sole survivor is an eft, which, though 

 lively, grows smaller apparently, yet the branchiae 

 are being absorbed. The poor fish mostly died, 

 the only survivors being a gold-fish, two minnows, 

 and two Prussian carp. The tails of the latter 

 were injured from sticking to the ice. I placed 

 them in a small aquarium, and took them into the 

 house, where they rapidly revived, and continue 

 well, and are now restored to the open air. 



The wind, which blew so powerfully on January 

 22nd, took the snow as it fell and whirled it into a 

 complete blizzard ; the drifts were in some places 

 near here fifteen feet deep, and many roads were 

 completely blocked, and had to be dug out. To the 

 snow succeeded rain, and the floods in the Thames 

 valley rose rapidly, and continued from February 

 7th to the i2th to rise, only afterwards gradually 

 sinking away, leaving the usual disagreeable smell 

 of river mud. 



Three winters ago, in severe weather, two rooks 

 took to going to the school-house here. The 

 schoolmaster and his family fed them with scraps. 

 They learnt the hours of meals, and have ever 

 since regularly appeared for pieces. The general 

 number now are seven rooks, with the old pair. 

 They come every day, summer or winter, and, I 

 am told, seem to inflict no damage in the garden, 

 with which our schoolmaster is particularly suc- 

 cessful, and is devoted to its culture. 



On February 12th Mr. C. Nicholson kindly, for 

 the tJiiid time, essayed to send me specimens of 



