140 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



the Australian type. For instance, a large number 

 of fossil mammalian bones have just been discovered 

 in the Tertiary strata in Patagonia, and they have 

 been proved to be nearly related to the pouched or 

 marsupial wolf (Thylacinus) of Tasmania. 



It seems as if the dream of photographers will soon 

 be realised, and photographing in colours will shortly 

 be realised. M. Lippmann has never despaired of it, 

 in spite of disappointments, and he has succeeded in 

 obtaining a more sensitive film than ever. He shows 

 that the complex colours which adorn natural objects 

 should be photographed just the same as the simple 

 colours of a spectrum. M. Lippmann has just sub- 

 mitted four naturally-coloured photographs to the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences, which faithfully represent 

 a stained-glass window of four colours, a group of 

 draperies, a plate of oranges surmounted by a red 

 poppy, and a many-coloured parrot. These showed 

 that the shape is represented simultaneously with the 

 colours. The draperies and the parrot required from 

 five to ten minutes' exposure to the electric light or 

 the sun ; the other objects were only obtained after 

 many hours of exposure to a diffused light. On one 

 of M. Lippmann's photos the blue of the sky comes 

 out rather as indigo, but the green of the foliage is 

 accurately rendered. There is no lovelier thing in 

 the world than the solar spectrum, and M. Lippmann 

 has succeeded in photographing this in all its beauty 

 after an exposure of half a minute ! At the Royal 

 Society's recent conversazione some of these natu- 

 rally-coloured photos were exhibited. 



Hitherto the savages of Central Africa have been 

 the only real and original " rain-makers." Now the 

 scientific white men are copying a leaf from their 

 books. We remember reading of the possibility of 

 rain being artificially produced when bitten by 

 love of science by Dr. Dick's " Christian Philo- 

 sopher " many years ago. Dr. Dick's scheme for 

 artificial rain-making has recently been revived. In 

 the United States and India, dynamite explosions in 

 the upper atmosphere have been tried by balloons. 

 Some have been partially successful ; but it is evident 

 that all the explosions in the world would not pro- 

 duce rain unless the air contained sufficient watery 

 vapour. M. Faye, a French scientist of fame, is 

 rather sanguine about the matter. We should not like 

 to throw cold water on artificial rain-making (although 

 that literally might help it), for if it could be effected 

 it would be a grand thing for many parts of Australia 

 and Africa. M. Faye thinks that all the experiments 

 hitherto made have been based on a false theory. 



The Neuroptera form a well-known and familiar 

 order of insects all the world over, including dragon- 

 flies, white ants, etc. Dr. Henry Woodward, F.R.S., 

 etc., in the last number of the " Geological 

 Magazine " figures and describes a British white ant 

 under the name of Falreotermes, which lived in 



Leicestershire many millions of years ago, when the 

 lower lias limestone of Barrow-on-Soar was being 

 deposited along the then existing bed of the sea. It 

 seems to have been an unusually large specimen of its 

 class. 



In a recent number of the " American Naturalist," 

 there is an account of the work of earth-worms in 

 Yoruba county, West Africa. It appears that here 

 the worms do the work of digging (or turning the 

 soil over), and not the lazy niggers. It would not be 

 a bad idea to introduce these earth-worms to other 

 places — they constitute the cheapest form of labour. 

 The above article, in speaking of their work, says 

 that if we estimate one square yard of dug earth by 

 2 feet deep as weighing one ton, we have an animal 

 movement of earth per square yard to the depth of 

 2 feet amounting to 45 pounds. From this it appears 

 that every particle of earth in each ton of soil to 

 the depth of 2 feet is brought to the surface once in 

 every twenty-seven years. This kind of earth-worm 

 also exists in rich alluvium soils of the Nile Valley. 

 How much does Egypt owe to its earth-worms ? 



ZOOLOGY. 



Indian Toads. — I was stationed in Gorakhpur, 

 N.W. Provinces, India, in 1882 or 1883. The then 

 forest officer had just built a new bungalow, with a 

 plinth Dine feet high, at Ramgarh, in a clearing in 

 the forest, and I lived with him in it during the hot 

 weather and rains. During the rains the bungalow 

 was invaded every evening after dark by swarms of 

 small toads. This puzzled me, as I naturally thought 

 they gained admission by hopping up the steps ; and 

 as these toads cannot hop well, I was surprised at so 

 many getting inside. One night I had occasion to 

 go round the outside of the bungalow with a lantern, 

 and I found that the toads were making their way in, 

 and that they did not hop up the steps ; they climbed 

 up by the aid of the right angle formed between the 

 plinth and the steps, placing their backs in this 

 angle and shoving with their hind-legs until they 

 reached the top, when they fell in on the plinth on 

 their backs. They were in such numbers that they 

 formed a complete column reaching from the ground 

 to the surface of the plinth, and I found a similar 

 column in the angle at the other side of the steps. I 

 suppose they were attracted by the lights, either 

 directly, or in the hope of finding insects ; but from 

 where they commenced their ascent, at the bas'e of 

 the plinth, the lighted doors were invisible, and, on 

 looking up, merely a diffused glow could be seen. 

 Were the toads attracted by this glow, or do they 

 climb every obstacle they meet? — J. R. Holt. 



The Legs of Moths. — When using my micro- 

 scope and examining parts' of moths, etc., I often 



