184 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



2-lobed, upper lobe short, lower twice as long, re- 

 flexed ; ovules erect, funiculus distinct half way up 

 the ovule, micropyle turned towards the dorsum of 

 the cell. Achaenia £$ to \ of an inch in length, 

 brown, wrinkled. Flowers May and June ; seeds 

 ripe about one week after flowering. Hedgebanks, 

 ■woods, and copses, and other damp shady and chalky 

 places ; local. 



Hairs simple or compound consisting of from one 

 to three cells. Stomata small, about fifteen to the 

 square j^ of an inch, and from xrnny '° TTtrcr of an 

 inch in length, oblong or sub-orbicular ; epidermal 

 cells of the upper surface of the leaf irregular and 

 destitute of stomata ; epidermal cells of the lower 

 surface more regularly and deeply sinuose. Pollen 

 bright yellow, dehiscent by lateral slits (usually three) ; 

 extine coloured, twice as thick as the hyaline intine ; 

 when immersed in water they become distended 

 (mostly on one side), burst, dehisce their contents, 

 sometimes producing papillae in the slits, and after 

 the dehiscence and great distension of the membranes 

 the extine is ruptured and thrown off. 



Henry E. Griset. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. \V. Jerome Harrison tells us that, (thanks 

 to the negatives obtained by the Bros. Henry) we 

 are better acquainted with the geography of the 

 visible parts of the moon, than with those of the 

 polar regions, &c. Mr Harrison forgets there are no 

 polling-stations at the north pole ! 



Dr. Leslie Keeley, gave an address at St. 

 James's Hall on the 5th of July, on " Drunkenness : a 

 curable disease." Dr. Keeley depends upon his 

 double chloride of gold remedies, boih for the treat- 

 ment of drunkenness and opium-eating. 



Part II. of the additions to " English Botany ; or 

 Coloured Figures of British Plants," (supplement to 

 the third edition), has been issued by Messrs. George 

 Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden. It 

 deals with the orders XXIII. to XXVI., and has 

 been well compiled and arranged by Mr. N. E. Brown, 

 of the Royal Herbarium, Kew. 



The Museums Association met this year at Man- 

 chester from July 5th to 7th, under the Presidency 

 of J. Willis Clerk, M.A, Registrary of the University 

 of Cambridge, and appeared to have a good time of 

 it. The President for the next year is Professor Boyd 

 Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in 

 the Owens' College. 



Holiday seekers with natural history tastes need 

 not be hard up either for companions or localities. 

 For instance, that popular society the Geologists' 

 Association goes this year, under the direction of 



Professor Blake, for a week's geologising to North- 

 West Carnarvonshire and Anglesea. A jollier party 

 could not have been gathered together. 



The last number of the "County of Middlesex 

 Natural History and Science Society," contains the 

 following capital paper, entitled, "On Rabies; its 

 Natural History, and the Means of Extinguishing it," 

 by Arthur Nichols, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. We are sorry 

 to see that the council of the above society were 

 obliged to suspend their meetings until further notice. 



That active society, the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union, held their ninety-eighth meeting at Penistone, 

 for Dunford Bridge and the upper valley of the Don, 

 on Saturday, 9th July. The geologists were under 

 the leadership of Mr. James W. Davis, F.G.S., etc. 

 The naturalists, under the guidance of Messrs. Alfred 

 Clarke, J. S. Dransfield, and S. L. Mosley, visited 

 the Dunford Bridge Reservoir. 



Percy Bysshe Shelley- was born at Field Place, 

 near Horsham, Sussex, on August 4th, 1792. The cen- 

 tenary of his birth is, therefore, close at hand. As 

 Shelley was the foremost man Sussex has given to the 

 world ;of letters, the county has naturally taken the 

 lead in organising a Centenary Celebration. Meetings 

 have been held at Horsham, and an influential com- 

 mittee, fully representative of the town and neigh- 

 bourhood, has been appointed. At a meeting of this 

 committee, it was decided that, both on general and 

 local grounds, the most fitting memorial to the poet 

 would be a " Shelley Library and Museum," to be 

 established at Horsham. 



The July number of " The Journal of Microscopy 

 and Science," edited by Alfred Allen, contains the 

 following interesting papers : — " The British Fresh- 

 water Rhizopods," " The Bacillus of Diphtheria," 

 " Notes on the Collection and Examination of Pond 

 Life," " Parasites and Parasitic Diseases of the 

 Domesticated Animals," "Methods of Preparing 

 Sections of teeth," etc., etc. 



Scientific Book Catalogues are always interest- 

 ing, as well as those which deal with old books other 

 •than Scientific. We confess to the additional en- 

 joyment of a pipe when we peruse " The Book- 

 Lover's Leaflet," published by Pickering and Chatto, 

 66, Haymarket, London. Scientific literature is 

 now assuming an historic form, and early works are 

 being sought. We strongly recommend our readers 

 who are thus-wise inclined, to apply for the " Cata- 

 logue of Mathematical Works," offered for sale by 

 Messrs. Dulau & Co., 37, Soho Square, London. 

 We have also received Messrs. Wesley & Sons, No. 

 117, "Natural History Circular," always welcome. 



Is it not Grant Allen who has sketched for us a 

 toothless and hairless descendant ? Fancy the house 



