SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1865. 



it. These scales are usually mounted " dry ; " but 

 Hogg recommends the use of Canada Balsam as 

 rendering their structure more definite when illu- 

 minated with Wenham's parabolic reflector. — Davies 

 on Preparing and Mounting Microscopic Objects. 



Illumination of Objects magnified by veuy 

 HIGH PowEBS. — Successful observation with very 

 high powers is mainly dependent upon illumination. 

 Indeed, by ordinary means it is not possible to 

 obtain a light sufficiently intense to illustrate an 

 object magnified 3,000 diameters. I have tried with 

 greater or less success many different plans, and 

 have used prisms, concave mirrors, and various 

 kinds of condensers. I have, however, arrived at 

 the conclusion that the most satisfactory results by 

 far are obtained by the use of Kelner's eye- piece as 

 a condenser, as suggested by my friend Mr. Brooke. 

 By this means I can obtain a light sufficient for a 

 magnifying power of lO^OOO linear. I have tried the 

 lime light, but have not found that it possesses any 

 advantages over the belmontine or parafiin lamp, 

 while the glare from it is much greater. — Dr. Beale's 

 " How to loork tvith the Microscope." 



Microscopic Mites on Stones. — A gentle- 

 man having forwarded a packet of small stones 

 covered with very minute white objects and 

 acari, to Mr. Westwood, received the following 

 reply : — '" The minute white objects on the stones, 

 are the eggs of the mite TromUdiiird [Tetramjclms) 

 lapidum, first figured by Hammer in Hermann's 

 Memoire Apterologique (pi. 7, fig. 7-8), with the 

 eggs which were discovered in similar situations. 

 Hammer's correspondent found with the eggs 

 minute red-coloured six-legged mites which had 

 been hatched from the eggs, and which ran very 

 quickly. Accompanying these mites (with six legs) 

 were always found others, two or three times 

 larger, of a brown colour, and with eight legs, but 

 these latter wanted the long set(e at the end of the 

 four anterior legs of the small individuals. Hammer 

 thought these constituted two distinct species, and 

 that they were not varieties, different in stage or 

 sex, because no metamorphoses had been noticed in 

 these insects, and no individuals intermediate in 

 size had been observed. He also inclined to regard 

 the so-called eggs in consequence of their com- 

 paratively large size to that of the insects, as a kind 

 of crysalid enclosing the mite in a sort of nymph 

 state. Erom what has since been observed of the 

 changes of these mites, however, there can be no 

 doubt that the large specimens are full-grown 

 individuals which had previously borne the appear- 

 ance of the smaller ones. All this is the more 

 necessary to be explained, because, in his note, Mr. 

 Wcatherhead states that the eig-ht-legged mites 

 were produced from the eggs. This, I believe, must 

 be a mistake. Unfortunately I cannot make out 



the number of legs, the specimens in the small 

 phial having been so battered by the particles of 

 stone, that some of the legs may have been, as 

 some certainly have been, detached in the journey 

 from shaking about. I suppose also that this 

 species is six-legged in the larval state. The eggs 

 are beautiful microscopic objects." — Eiitomologisfs 

 Monthly Magazine, 



EEPOETB OF SOCIETIES. 



Entomological Society, Dec. 5. — Mr. J. Weir 

 exhibited some microscoi^ic prepai'ations of the spiral 

 tongues of butterflies, for the purpose of shomng 

 the variation in the striation of the tongue in dif- 

 ferent species, and in the impillss which exist at the 

 end of the tongue.— Mr. Bond exhibited a coloured 

 drawing of the larvce of Acronijcta strigosa, and a 

 photograph of a remarkable negro variety oi Abraxas 

 grussulariafa. — Mr. E. Smith exkibited a parti- 

 coloui'ed wasp's-nest, constructed by two species of 

 wasp, the Fespja Germunica and V. vulgaris. — Mr. 

 W. E. Evans sent for exhibition a box full of frag- 

 ments of a LamelHcorn beetle, which had been picked 

 out of some New Zealand wool : the insects proved 

 to be Pgrouotaf estiva, and it was conceived that, in 

 the course of their flight, they had come in contact 

 with the sheep and became entangled in the fleeces 

 so as to prevent their escape. — The President ex- 

 hibited some globular spiders' nests from South 

 Australia, which were remarkable for their resem- 

 blance to the fruit of Leptospermum, the tea-plant 

 of Australia, whilst tlie spiders themselves _ were 

 described as looking like the excrement of a bird. — • 

 Mr. S. Stevens exhibited several pairs of Cheirolasia 

 Bnrkei, one of the rare Goliath beetles of tropical 

 Africa ; he also read a letter fj-om M. Du Chaillu, 

 dated Eernand-Vaz River, Aug. 20, 1864, in which 

 tlie writer announced the despatch to England of a 

 large collection of insects. 



Anthbopological Society, Dec. 6.-;-Mr. S. 

 Laiug exhibited, an interesting collection, and 

 read a Paper on "The Pre-Historic remains of 

 Caithness." Mr. C. C. Blake also read a paper by 

 Mr. Roberts on the discovery of a large Ivistraem 

 in the Muckle Hoeg, in the island of North Shetland, 

 with notes upon the human remains discovered 

 therein. An animated discussion on these Papers 

 followed, in which Professor Owen and others took 

 part. 



Royal Geogbaphical Society, Dec. 13. — A 

 Paper by Mr. J. Cameron, of Singapore, containing 

 " A Description of the _ Islands of Kalatoa and 

 Puloweh, north of Elores, in the Malay Archipelago." 

 The former of these islands was said to be unin- 

 habited, the latter to contain a population of 5,000, 

 whose daily life was a repetition of the various 

 stages of intoxication, and that every evening 

 ended in a drunken brawl. Dr. Hector next read a 

 paper on " An Expedition" to the West Coast of 

 Otago, New Zealand, and the Discovery of a practi- 

 cable Route over the Mouutahis to the Golduelds and 

 the East Coast." Mr. Albert Walker also gave an 

 account of a. liazardous journey which he performed, 

 in company M'ith two other young men, along the 

 West Coast of the Middle Island, New Zealand. 



