142 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



hand differences, etc. In Rubus and other genera, I 

 do not attempt any descriptions (merely a list), as 

 even with full descriptions it is very difficult to make 

 them out, which can only be done by the aid of 

 actual specimens named by specialists in the genus. 

 Sets of British Rubi are now being published by 

 Messrs. Linton, Murray, and M. Rogers. For the 

 Characea;, reference must be made to the papers of 

 Messrs. Groves in the " Journal of Botany," and to the 

 sets of dried specimens they are now issuing. — Arthur 

 Bennett. 



Preserving Hepatic/E. — A very good way of 

 preserving the more minute species of the Hepaticce, 

 especially the Jungermanniaceae, as dry specimens is 

 as follows: — First select your specimens, the most 

 normal possible, and wash their roots well in water 

 with a small brush ; now remove them on to a clean 



Fig. 86. — Jungcrmannia bicrespidata. 

 specimen. 



X 10. From a dried 



glass slide with a drop of some preservative fluid 

 (dilute corrosive sublimate in spirits of wine), take a 

 clean folded piece of thin shiny paper, and write the 

 date, etc., on one side, now reverse your slide and 

 float as it were the plants on to the paper ; this may 

 now be placed between sheets of absorbent paper in 

 the ordinary way. When they are thoroughly dry 

 they may be gummed on pieces of fine white paper, 

 and the paper pinned in the drawers of a cabinet, or 



gummed as herbaria. I thought it might be useful to 

 those who study this beautiful class of cryptogamous 

 plants, it being the most advantageous, the fluid not 

 only preserving them, but allowing them to assume a 

 very natural and therefore graceful position. — Henry 

 E. Gris'et. 



GEOLOGY. 



The Probable Coal-Fields of East Anglia. — 

 One of the most important meetings ever held in 

 Ipswich, took place on May 6th at the Town Hall. 

 For some time past, in his public lectures and in 

 articles contributed to the newspapers, Dr. J. E. 

 Taylor, of the Ipswich Museum, has stated his 

 opinions as to the probability of coal-fields occurring 

 in the Eastern Counties, and the intense interest 

 which has been aroused in the question was evidenced 

 by the attendance at this gathering. Mr. Whitaker, 

 F.R.S., etc., had travelled all the way from South- 

 ampton to attend the meeting. This gentleman was 

 in charge of the Government Geological Survey for 

 Suffolk and Norfolk for eleven years, and his 

 memoirs on the subject are published by the Govern- 

 ment, as are also those of Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., 

 etc., who had also come up from Eastbourne to attend 

 this meeting. Reports were read from Messrs. 

 Whitaker, Holmes, and Taylor, on the possibility of 

 coal-measures occurring in Essex and Suffolk, and 

 Mr. Whitaker prefaced the reading of his own, which 

 was the longest and most-elaborately prepared paper, 

 by stating that none of the experts present had con- 

 sulted together, so that their reports were purely 

 personal. The one fact that struck the meeting was 

 the wonderful unanimity of opinion of the scientific 

 experts as to the probability of finding coal in East 

 Anglia. The various questions arising were severely 

 criticised and discussed from a practical point of view, 

 the chief difficulty evidently forefronting those who 

 regarded the subject from a business aspect being 

 the position of the landowners. Unfortunately, no 

 representative of the landowning class was present to 

 speak on this question, although it was felt by the 

 commercial gentlemen present that the landowners 

 might eventually be those most profitably interested. 

 The meeting afterwards resolved itself into a General 

 Committee to take action in the matter, and to call 

 in the aid, if necessary, of the scientific experts — 

 Messrs. Whitaker and Holmes, and Dr. Taylor — for 

 advice in their future deliberations. In the end a 

 sub-committee was formed for the purpose of con- 

 sidering the advisibility of selecting the best probable 

 sites for coal-search borings in Essex and Suffolk. 

 The subject was thoroughly discussed, aad,there can 

 be very little doubt, now that the enterprise has been 

 publicly started, that some means will be devised of 

 bringing this problem to a practical solution. 



