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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



suggestions of remedies or plans, except the most 

 lamiliar, to aid her in their destruction. Many of 

 the figures illustrating the work are good, though 

 there is much unevenness. For instance, in a new 

 edition, a fresh drawing of a house-cricket would 

 be an improvement, to say nothing of the figures 

 on page 161 of four stages in unfolding an earwig's 

 left wing ; the figs, a, b and c of this group must be 

 largely taken in faith as to what they represent. 

 We venture to predict that an early opportunity 

 will occur for these small but necessary im- 

 provements in this work, for it is one which 

 ought to run to another edition before many 

 years are over. 



Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry. 

 Seventeenth Edition. Revised and in great part 

 re-written. By C. M. Aikman, M.A., F.R.S.E., etc. 

 (Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood & 

 Sons, 1894.) 8vo, 492 pp. and some illustrations. 

 Price 6s. Gd. 



This standard work appears in its 17th edition, 

 greatly improved and largely re-written, so as to 

 bring it up to date with the rapidly advancing 

 results of chemical research as applied to 

 agric ulture. There are also additional chapters 

 upon Milk and Dairy Products, which in themselves 

 render the new edition a necessity. 



Bye-gone Science. The dawn of science [out of 

 alchemy and the black arts is a fascinating subject. 

 Messrs. Wm. Wesley & Son, of London, have 

 recently issued a catalogue of 548 works relating 

 to Paracelsus, 1493-1541 (Theophrastus Bombastus 

 von Hohenheim), collected by the late Dr. Schubert, 

 of Frankfort. It is a remarkable list of works on 

 a remarkable subject. It is accompanied by a 

 Catalogue of Transactions of Scientific Societies, 

 chiefly collected by the late Sir George Airy. 

 These catalogues have a value far above mere 

 trade lists, and are worthy of being kept for 

 reference. 



Journal of Marine Zoology and Microscopy . A 

 Quarterly Magazine, price 6d. Edited by James 

 Hornell. (Jersey : Sinel and Hornell. London : 

 Elliot Stock.) 



This journal is the organ of the Jersey Biological 

 Station, and is chiefly occupied by observations 

 made in the aquariums and laboratories attached. 

 The journal is illustrated by plates of drawings 

 taken from nature, some of which are coloured. 



Works on Microscopy. — .Mr. W. P. Collins, of 

 6, Red Lion Square, London, forwards his Catalogue 

 of books on subjects relating to the Microscope, and 

 some others in different departments of natural 

 history. His list of Microscopical Journals is useful, 

 as it contains the titles of many published in foreign 

 countries. 



American Naturalist (Philadelphia: January, 

 1894). Courtship among the Flies, by J. M. Aldrich. — 

 The dipterous family, Dolichopodida.-, perhaps sur- 

 passes all other families of animals in the variety and 

 complexity of the sexual adornments of the males. 

 Probably three-fourths of the species offer well- 

 marked peculiarities which distinguish the male at a 

 glance. A new species found at Moscow, Idaho, has 

 the fore tarsi in the male exceedingly elongated and 

 slender, with the last joint in the shape of a com- 

 paratively large, oval, black disk. The tarsi of 

 the female are of the ordinary simple structure. 

 The manoeuvres of the male in courting the female 

 were observed by the author. The fly places himself 

 in front of the female within half an inch, rapidly 

 vibrates his wings, gives his forefeet an up and 

 down motion, raising them simultaneously above his 

 head, and brings them down with a slight force, 

 this movement recurring in about half a second, 

 during some ten seconds. The female hastily 

 moves away a few inches, when the male has to 

 repeat the movements described. The author was 

 much impressed by the perfect coincidence of 

 these observations with Darwin's theory of sexual 

 selection. The reluctance of the females and the 

 corresponding ardour and persistence of the males 

 being carried to an almost incredible limit. — Prof. 

 C. E. Bessey gives A Synopsis of the larger Groups 

 of the Vegetable Kingdom, the classes being, with few 

 exceptions, those usually recognised by modern 

 authors. "Orders" of the lower plants are 

 equivalent to the " series" of the Angiosperms of 

 Bentham and Hooker's Genera Plantarum Branch 

 I. — Protophyta (water-slimes), one class, two 

 orders. Branch II. — Phycophyta (spore-tangles), 

 two classes, seven orders. Branch III. — Car- 

 pophyta (fruit-tangles), five classes, fourteen orders. 

 Branch IV. — Bryophyta (mossworts), two classes, 

 seven orders. Branch V. — Pteridophyta (fern- 

 worts), three classes, eight orders. Branch VI. — 

 Anthophyta (flowering plants), two classes, 

 seventeen orders. — Three new Rodents (rats) are 

 described by Mr. S. N. Rhoads ; Neotoma 

 monochroura, from Oregon ; Neotoma intermedia, 

 from California ; Dipodomys parvus, from California. 



In the Botanical Gazette (Madison, Wis. : 

 January, 1894), 2 ^ new species of plants from 

 Guatemala are described, one of which, Ardisia 

 paschalis, CDC, is figured, as is also Pinus 

 donnell - smithii, Mast. — Mr. Albert Schneider 

 contributes an interesting article on Mutualistic 

 symbiosis of Alga? and Bacteria with Cycas 

 revoluta, from which it appears that the relation 

 between these lower and higher members of the 

 vegetable kingdom is very complex, and the author 

 concludes from the appearance of the host that the 

 "infecting symbionts " are far from harmful, and 

 he justly remarks that " the omnipresence and 

 importance of Schizophytic organisms in and on 

 tissues of vascular Cryptogams and Gymnosperms 

 is probably far from being over estimated," 



Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes (Paris : 

 January, 1894). Kitchen Middens in Provence; E. 

 Fournier. — Similar pre-historic remains of early 



