6 4 



SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



We have pleasure in inviting any readers who desire to raise 

 discussions on scientific subjects, to address their letters to the 

 Editor, at 110 Strand, London, W.C. Our only restriction will 

 be, in case the correspondence exceeds the bounds of courtesy ; 

 which we trust is a matter of great improbability. These 

 letters may be anonymous. In that case they must be accom- 

 panied by the full name and address of the writer, not for 

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 not hold himself responsible for the opinions of the corre- 

 spondents. — Ed. S.-G. 



FIELD-BOTANY CLUB. 



To the Editor of Science-Gossip. 



Sir, — It was with great pleasure that I read on 

 page 23 of the June number of your journal that 

 you propose to form in London a society for the 

 encouragement of field-botany, and although I 

 observe you intend to give it the name of " The 

 London Field-Botany Club," I trust its committee 

 will permit country members to join. 



I am sure that others having an interest in field- 

 botany besides myself would be glad to get in 

 closer touch with each other, and I believe that 

 such a club would be the means of regenerating 

 the interest that was formerly so generally taken in 

 our native plants. We must all of us feel thankful 

 for the higher system of education brought about 

 by the recognised science classes, which have 

 taught us a better knowledge of the structure of 

 plants. Yet we must not allow the morphological 

 teaching to crush our acquaintance with the indi- 

 viduality of our old plant friends, who, I regret 

 to say, now greet most of us each spring-time, with 

 their beautiful blossoms, only to be passed with 

 lordly indifference — because they have not been 

 introduced to us. Arctium lappa. 



Birmingham. 



NATUKE PICTURES OF PLANTS. 

 To the Editor of Science-Gossip. 



Sir,— In the June issue of Science-Gossip Mr. 

 Roger Verity asks if counterfeit representations of 

 the scales of butterflies can be obtained on paper. 

 I have not obtained nature prints of lepidoptera, 

 but the following method of taking off impressions 

 of plants answers admirably, and may be useful to 

 some of your readers. I follow this method with 

 plants : Oil a sheet of fine-woven paper with sweet 

 olive oil ; let it stand for about three minutes to 

 soak through, then remove the superfluous oil with 

 another piece of paper, and hang the first up to 

 dry. When the oil is fairly well dried in, take a 

 lighted lamp or candle and slowly move the paper 

 in a horizontal direction over it, so as to touch the 

 tip of the flame, till the paper is perfectly black. 

 When you wish to take off impressions of plants, 

 lay the specimen carefully on the black paper, face 

 downwards, and a piece of clean paper over it, and 

 rub the plant with your finger equally in all parts 

 for about half a minute ; then take tip the plant, 

 being careful not to disturb the order of the parts, 

 and place it on the paper on which you wish to 

 have the impression. Cover it with a piece of 

 blotting-paper, and rub it with your finger for a 

 short time, and you will obtain an admirable im- 

 pression. The principal excellence of the above 

 method is that the paper receives the impression of 

 the most minute veins and fibres. 



The impressions may afterwards be coloured 

 according to nature. S. Albert Webb. 



41 Rothesay Boad, Luton, Beds. 



NOTICES OF SOCIETIES. 

 Ordinary meetings are marked ^, excursions * ; nanus of persons 

 following excursions' are of Conductors. § Lantern Illustra- 

 tions. 



Nottingham Natural Science Rambling Club. 

 July 14. — " Sandiacre and Stony Cloud. W. Stafford. 



„ 28. — * Attenborough to St'apleford. J. Shipman, F.G-.S. 

 Geologists' Association of London. 

 July 7.—* Thrapston. Rev. Prof. J. F. Blake, M.A.. F.( ;.S. 



., 14. — * Croydon to Whyteleafe. President and G. E 

 Deblev, F.G-.S. 



„ 21.—* YV'inchfield and Hook. Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



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 published on the 25th of each month. All notes or other com- 

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NOTICE. 



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ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



T. (Grimsby). — Some of your plants are aliens— 1, 3, 6 we are 

 not able to name ; 2 is Aspenys procumben.i ; 4 appears to 

 be Echinospermum lappa; 5, Erysimum orientate; 7, Thlaspi 

 arvense. 



EXCHANGES. 



Notice. — Exchanges extending to thirty words (including 

 name and address) admitted free, but additional words must 

 be prepaid at the rate of threepence for every seven words or 

 less. 



Offered. — A few first-class lantern slides of Carboniferous 

 fossils for other 1. slides of geological structures ; also a few 

 good Palaeozoic fossils for exchange. — P. J. Roberts, 11 Back 

 Ash Street, Bacup. 



W anted. Carpenter's " Microscope and its Revelations," 

 edited by Dallinger, or other works on microscopy. Exchange 

 CasseU's "Our Earth and its Story," complete, 3 bound vols., 

 original edition, coloured plates, almost new. — John J. Ward, 

 Lincoln Street, Coventry. 



Wanted, to exchange Beck's small erect image microscope, in 

 case, without stand, cost 18s. 6d., type slide of foraminifera, 

 cost 12s., and brass mounting table witli spirit lamp, cost 

 4s. 6d., for a telescope.— H. Ebbage,' 11 Hall Quav Great 

 Yarmouth. 



