SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



249 



into the composition of a hair and its follicle, 

 showing also the corresponding layers of the 

 skin (fig. i) : — 



/ (i) Longitudinal fibrous layer 

 Dermal layers - (2) Circular fibrous layer 



1 (3) Hyaline 

 Stratum Malpighii (4) Outer root sheath 



,, granulosum (5) Henle's layer 1 Inner 

 ,, lucidum (6) Huxley's layer ,- root 



(7) Cuticle of follicle] sheath 

 „ granulosum (8) Cuticle of hair 

 corncum (9) Cortex of hair 



,, Malpighii (10) Medulla of hair 

 (To be concluded next month.) 



NEW CONCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



WE understand a meeting was held at the 

 Borough Road Polytechnic (near the Elephant 

 and Castle, S.E.) on November 23rd, to discuss the 

 desirability of forming a London Branch of the 

 Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 The Rev. J. W. Horsley, Rector of St. Peter's, 

 Walworth, at whose instance the meeting had been 

 called, gave reasons for the formation of such a 

 branch, and read letters from absent members 

 approving the scheme. It was thought that a 

 London branch with monthly meetings for dis- 

 cussion, for exhibition and for exchange, could not 

 fail to be of advantage, and must tend to an 

 increase of members, especially from the ranks of 

 those who were comparative beginners in Con- 

 chology. The branch would in no way be a rival 

 of the Malacological Society, but probably a feeder 

 to it. The meeting unanimously determined to form 

 the branch, and to hold the first meeting on 

 Thursday, January 10th, 1895, at 7 p.m., in a room 

 kindly lent by the Governors of the Borough Road 

 Polytechnic, which is a most accessible spot from 

 all parts of London. The subscription was fixed 

 at 2s. per annum. The attendance of any con- 

 chologists in or near London will be welcomed at 

 this meeting, and they are especially invited to 

 bring small collections or specimens for exhibition 

 and exchange. It is unfortunate the same night 

 has been selected for meeting as that already 

 occupied by the South London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society, which covers the same 

 district, and contains many members interested in 

 shells. 



ARTHUR C. RAN YARD. 



ARTHUR COWPER RANYARD, F.R.A.S., 

 ■**■ the proprietor and editor of our contempo- 

 rary " Knowledge," died at his residence in 

 Bloomsbury, London, December 14th, 1894, i n the 

 51st year of his age. Mr. Ranyard was educated 

 at Cambridge. On leaving the University he 

 studied for the bar, and was called in 1871. He 

 was one of the founders and first secretary of the 

 London Mathematical Society, and became a 

 Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1864. 

 In the years 1870, 1878 and 1882, he formed part 

 of the expeditions to various parts of the world to 

 study the total solar eclipses, and afterwards was 

 engaged in working out the results. For certain 

 experiments in astronomical photography he gained 

 considerable celebrity. We understand Messrs. 

 Witherby and Co. have acquired the property of 

 " Knowledge." 



ANIMAL LIFE IN INDIA.* 



T^ XCEPT my dog, I have no other pets, because 

 -*— ' I am away from my bungalow for so lon^ 

 that I could not look after them, and they might be 

 neglected. There is really no need for domesticated 

 live animals here, for there are so many about which 

 keep and are responsible for looking after them- 

 selves. I am very glad to see them all in my 

 verandah and garden, but have to prevent some 

 kinds from entering my rooms. The biggest wild 

 animals that come into the compound are the 

 jackals ; they make a tremendous noise at night, 

 but are seldom seen, and when one does see them 

 one feels very sorry for them ; they are not like the 

 sleek nicely-coated beasts at the Zoological 

 Gardens, but very thin and miserable-looking, like 

 lost dogs. The commonest mammals about are the 

 squirrels; they are very pretty little beasties, 

 grey heads, limbs and tail, and a white body with 

 longitudinal brown stripes; they are very inquisitive, 

 and rush across the drive into the verandah and 

 climb up the chics (openwork blinds) on the door 

 and look in. Then they scamper back again and up 

 a tree, and tell all their friends what they have seen. 

 They chatter and laugh about it till a cart goes 

 along the road, or something else fresh turns up 

 to talk about. Then in my rooms live three 

 species of animals ; the biggest is the brown rat, 

 but I have never seen one except when caught in a 

 trap ; then comes a pale bluish grey creature with 

 pink nose and feet and a tiny black eye (the musk 

 shrew, commonly called the " musk rat"), he sits in 

 the corner, peering out into the room, but, I think, 

 cannot see half-way across it. When he goes for a 

 walk, he trots all round the room, keeping close to 

 the wall lest he should lose his way, singing softly 

 in a little shrill voice to himself all the while to 

 keep up his spirits. Sometimes he and I come 

 round a corner and meet unexpectedly ; then he 

 pulls up short, and simply shrieks with surprise, 

 and runs away. He is not a coward by any means. 

 He will go into the rat and mice traps to eat the 

 toast provided for the rodents, and when found 

 there, or otherwise cornered, turns to bay most 

 fiercely and gallantly, and sits up on his hind legs, 

 gives shrill shrieks of defiance, twists his long nose 

 about, and shows his sharp-pointed little teeth. 

 If it comes to fighting, he will do so till death 

 supervenes. 



The third and smallest animal is the brown 

 mouse. That small but active person seemed 

 ubiquitous in my rooms at first, though I have 

 thinned the ranks of them considerably. The first 

 thing in the morning, while I was having " chota 

 hazri" (tea and toast) by the light of a solitary 



Extract from a letter by Lieut. Stanley S. Flower, 5th 

 Fusiliers, Benares, November 3rd, 1894. (Communicated by 

 Sir William H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S., (South Kensington 



