156 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



necessity, and at the present day is, to many, one 

 of the most enjoyable of recreations." Then 

 follows a comparison, without disparagement, of 

 hunting big and other game, and for specimens of 

 the smaller with which to enlarge our knowledge. 

 " I claim," continued he. " therefore, for our 

 science that its pursuit in the field is attended by 

 most pleasureable excitement .... that to all it 

 affords a change of occupation, conducive in the 

 highest degree to health and longevity, as the 

 obituaries of the Linnean, Entomological and 

 other Natural History Societies amply testify/' 

 The Abstract of the "Proceedings" is largely a 

 report of what occurred at the meetings, but there 

 are also some very interesting papers and notes 

 printed, which were read before the Society. These 

 include " Remarks on Pieris napi and Allied Forms," 

 by J. Jenner Weir, F.L.S. ; " Notes on the Cocoons 

 of Eriogaster lanestris," by R. Adkin, F.E.S. ; "Is 

 Coremia unindentaria, Haw, specifically distinct 

 from C. ferrugata, Clerck ? " by R. South, F.E.S. ; 

 " Isochromatous Lepidoptera," by J. Jenner Weir ; 

 "Notes on the Flora and Fauna of Horsley and 

 Oxshott, Surrey," by H. J. Turner, F.E.S. ; 

 " Lichens," by E. Step ; " Notes and Observations 

 during a Journey to Manitoba, in 1893," by John T. 

 Carrington. J. T. C. 



" The Annual Report and Proceedings of the 

 Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, 1893-4," contains 

 much varied and interesting material : accounts of 

 excursions, papers read and reports of special 

 committees. An appendix to the volume consists 

 of apaper by Charles W. Watts, F.I.C., on " Lepi- 

 doptera taken in the Belfast District." The society, 

 which has attained to the age of thirty-one years, 

 appears to continue in a very flourishing condition. 

 The list of members, which now includes 461 

 names, shows a large increase during the past year. 

 The Haslemere Microscope and Natural History 

 Society issue a modest " Record of Lectures and 

 Addresses," delivered before the society during 

 1893-4, compiled by Rayner Storr, Hon. Secretary. 

 It is pleasing to find so good a work being carried 

 on in so small a town with so much success. The 

 society was fortunate in enjoying the warm 

 sympathy of the late Professor Tyndall, during his 

 residence at Haslemere. The lectures have been 

 admirably condensed and summarised by Mr. Storr, 

 and among them we may mention, as of chief 

 interest to our readers, the inaugural address on 

 "The Faculty of Imagination," by Jonathan 

 Hutchinson, F.R.S., President; "Volcanoes," by 

 F. W. Rudler, F.G.S. ; " Big Trees of California," 

 by N. E. Brown (Kew Gardens) ; " Rain-drops, 

 Hail-stones and Snow-flakes," by the Hon. Rollo 

 Russell ; " Photographing the Stars," by Dr. A. H. 

 Fison ; " Primroses and their Allies," by A. D. 

 Hall, M.A., F.C.S. E. S. 



Mr. F. Chapman contributes a paper on the 

 foraminifera of the gault, at Folkestone, to the 

 August number of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society's Journal. In the same number Mr. 

 T. Comber deals with those characters of the 

 diatomaceae which are generally accepted for 

 specific diagnosis. 



IRRITO - CONTRACTILITY OF PLANT - TISSUE. 



Professor J. M. Macfarlane, of Massachusetts, 

 maintains that in the vegetable as in the animal 

 kingdom, we have to do with a true contractile 

 tissue. In the higher plants this tissue is made up 

 of cells, each consisting of an irrito-contractile 

 protoplasmic sac enclosing a quantity of sap, each 

 cell being joined to its neighbour by protoplasmic 

 processes passing through minute pores in the 

 cellulose membrane. The seat of this contractility 

 is the vacuolated protoplasm and not the cell-wall, 

 as held by some observers. The degree of contrac- 

 tion of an organ is proportional to the relative 

 molecular activity of the protoplasm, and to the 

 strength or continuity of the stimulus. 



Dendritic Crystals. — I have for many years 

 past observed the little dendritic crystals, spoken of 

 in the June number of Science-Gossip, and admired 

 them through a pocket lens, but I have never ob- 

 served them in old books, nor indeed in any book, 

 but only on blue paper similar to that on which I am 

 now 7 writing. I always took them to be manganese 

 crystals in the paper, and in no way owing to 

 printer's ink, because I have only observed them 

 on unused paper, fresh from the ream. In a small 

 elementary book on minerals, I see that the oxide 

 of manganese is employed largely in the manu- 

 facture of chloride of lime for the use of linen 

 bleachers ; if so, might not this account for the 

 presence of these beautiful little dendritics on 

 paper which is so frequently made of old rags ? 

 — Rev. H. M. Mapleton, Badgavrth Rectory, Somerset. 



The Localisation of the Perfumes of 

 Flowers. — Mesnard's method of examining floral 

 odours is applicable to a wide range of micro- 

 chemical studies. A ring of glass is cemented to 

 a suitable glass slide, and within this cell another 

 smaller ring is glued in such a manner as to leave 

 between the two a clear annular space. In this 

 space is placed pure chlorhydic acid. On a cover- 

 glass, large enough to cover the whole of the larger 

 cell, is put a drop of pure glycerine containing a 

 good deal of sugar, and in this re-agent is deposited 

 the section of petal to be studied. The cover-glass 

 is now to be inverted and applied to the outer ring. 

 By the concurrent action of the vapour of the acid 

 and the dehydrating activity of the glycerine the 

 essential or the fatty oil containing the perfume 

 separates in minute drops. A modification of the 

 process directs that the central ring be covered by 

 its own cover-glass. On this the drop of glycerine 

 is to be put, and this is to hold the sections. By 

 this simple method the localisation of the perfume 

 of the jasmine, rose, violet and tuberose has been 

 effected. — A merican Journal of Science. 



