HARDWICK&S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



67 



pelagic forms (Globigerinidas) and take the mean 

 average of these figures, the result shows that the 

 entire group of forty-two species may be stated to 

 give in round figures S90 fathoms. The fact this 

 list teaches is, I think, that a very fair percentage of 

 the species present are of undoubtedly deep-water 

 habits, in our present seas, and that about twenty-four 

 per cent, only fail to attain a maximum depth of 1000 

 fathoms. 



On the other hand it is only fair to acknowledge 

 that a considerable mixture of deep and shallow- 

 water forms frequent some localities. Thus Challenger 

 station 209 affords an example. Dredgings from Cebu, 

 120 fathoms, present a very strange assortment of 

 species, but it is as a whole we must be guided in 

 forming an opinion on what must, to a very lar^e 

 extent, be after all only conjectural. 



BARBADOS FORAMINIFERA. 



Xubecularia lucifuga 



Bigenerina pennatula 



Gaudryina pupoides 



,, rugosa 



Bulimina inflata 



Pleurostomella rapa 



„ altemans .... 



Bolivina punctata 



Cassidulina crassa 



„ subglobosa .... 



Ehrenbergina serraca 



Lagina striata 



„ forinosa 



„ gracilis 



„ trigona marginata . . 

 Xoaosaria (GlanduJina) laevigata . 

 „ (?) abyssorum .... 



„ filiformis 



,, hispida var. subii.eata . 



„ mucronata 



„ obliqua 



„ inflexa [fragments) . . 



Frondicularia interrupta .... 



Cristellaria rotulata 



„ cultrata 



,, gemmata 



Polymorphina rotundata .... 

 ,, longicollis .... 



„ lactea 



Uvigerina angulosa 



,, asperula uar. auberiana . 



Sagrina striata 



„ raphaous 



„ columellaris 



»» . virgula (monomorphous var.) 



Globigirina bulloides 



„ cretacea 



„ bulloides var. triloba . 



Pullenia quinqueloba 



Trcncatuiina wuellerstorfi . . . 



Pulvinulina auricula 



„ crassa 



,, repanda 



„ pauperata 



Rotalia soldanii 



Fre- 

 quency. 



V. R. 



V. R. 



V. R. 



V. K. 

 V. R. 



\\ 



Maximum and 

 miniuium 

 Depths. 



Fathoms. 

 iS 



350 to 675 

 50 to 1450 



1 1 to 670 

 95 to 2435 

 129 



1375 to 2350 

 2 to 2750 

 40 to 2760 



12 tO 295O 



150 to 2350 



2 tO 600 



littoral to 1S50 

 129 to 2775 

 go to 2300 

 50 to 1360 

 1825 



50 to 450 

 95 to 435 

 620 to 2600 

 1500 to 2000 

 95 to 1400 

 129 



littoral to 2200 

 38 to 2435 

 95 to 210 

 50 to 1850 

 1 100 to 2425 

 shallow to 2350 

 50 to 1375 

 580 to 610 



3 to 350 

 2 to 260 

 6 to 1125 

 12 to 2075 



pelagic 



20 to 2750 

 350 to 2435 

 littoral to 500 

 420 to 2740 

 littoral to iooo 

 675 to 2350 

 300 to 2000 



There were also present fragments of a very thin 

 outspread Calcarina, but not a single perfect form 

 could be obtained from the material at my disposal. 



"W. H. Harris. 



Ilfraeombe, 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Professor Duner, a Swedish astronomer, has 

 just made known an important work which has led 

 to important results concerning the rapidity of the 

 sun's rotation. Ey observing the displacement of the 

 lines of the solar spectrum, Professor Duner has 

 obtained a hitherto unknown exactitude in the 

 measurement of the movements of the sun, and found 

 that that body moves on its axis at a rate of a mile 

 and two hundred and forty-two feet in a second of 

 time. The sun's day lasts therefore at its equator 

 twenty-five days and twelve hours of our reckoning. 

 Duner's measurements result in a different length of 

 rotation in different parts of the body of the sun, 

 regularly increasing in length from the equator to the 

 poles, so that those parts of the sun's surface lying 

 near the two poles have a day as long as forty-six of 

 our days. This is only possible with a movable and 

 gaseous surface like that of the sun. 



M. Locard has completed a census of the shell- 

 fish of France, and finds that there are 1,500 marine 

 and 1,250 odd non-marine (that is to say, fresh-water 

 and land) species of molluscs within the bounds of 

 the mother country. This, of course, is vastly more 

 than England can boast. But that is only to be 

 expected, as our shores are chillier than hers, and our 

 area much more limited. Thus the Mediterranean 

 alone yields nearly 1,200 species — all our British 

 molluscan fauna is about 550 marine and 150 non- 

 marine forms. 



Professor E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., on 

 Thursday, February nth, began a course of three 

 lectures on "Recent Biological Discoveries" ; and 

 the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., on Saturday, 

 February 13th, a course of six lectures on " Matter : 

 at rest and in motion." 



The Editor has to appeal to the patience and good 

 feeling of his correspondents if he has not answered 

 all of them up to date, as he has been a severe 

 sufferer from what is now known as the ' ' prevailing 

 epidemic." 



At a recent meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of 

 Victoria (Australia) the distinguished botanist, Baron 

 Von Mueller, advocated the protection of insectivorous 

 and native birds, by putting a comparatively heavy 

 tax on guns. He thought naturalists should form a 

 union for the purpose of suppressing bird-slaughter, 

 and that each member should wear a badge. 



ZOOLOGY. 



Natural History Postages. — Though natu- 

 ralists make much use of the post in the matter of 

 exchanging specimens, I find that both local postal 

 authorities and naturalists themselves are often 



