HARD WICKE' S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



259 



The var. andreivsi (Mab.) appears to have been 

 founded on a misunderstanding, and is accordingly 

 omitted. 



SUMMARY. 



a 



.2 



c5 w 



2-2 



•r 3 



nS 



ft « 



,3 W 



z 



Genus. 



British Varieties 

 and Mutations. 





a »5 



£ 



3 



a 

 



i< 



Ml 



lis 



U C 11 



flj 



3T3 « 



«1 



a.5 



ft™ 



3 



55* 



Localities of 

 Endemic 

 forms. 



3 



5 



2 

 2 



S 



1 



3 



35 



16 

 7 



39 



3 



Testacella . 



Limax . 



Agriolimax 

 Amalia . 



Arion . . 

 Geomalacus 



1 



=4 



13 

 2 



=3 



1 



2 



5 



2 



3 



10 



1 





i Middlesex. 



Ireland ; Scot- 

 land ; Eng- 

 land. 



England. 



England. 



I. of Man; 

 Wales ; Eng- 

 land ; Ire- 

 land. 



Irish only ; 

 Co. Kerry. 



18 



103 



All together 64 



23 



16 





These statistics will doubtless need alteration in the 

 light of future research ; but it seems evident that we 

 have seme endemic varieties of slugs, one or two of 

 which, like L. marginatus, v. maculatus, are well- 

 established and very distinct. Yet the amount of 

 peculiarity is nothing as compared to certain con- 

 tinental areas, such as Portugal and the Caucasus, and 

 probably any district in Southern Europe of like area 

 would show as many or more endemic varieties if 

 thoroughly examined. 



Institute of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, 

 June 12th, 1892. 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Mr. Olivet, of Geneva, has brought out a system 

 of electric heating for conservatories. A dynamo, 

 worked by a motor, sends the current into receivers 

 of special metallic composition, which become rapidly 

 heated up to a certain temperature. This naturally 

 sets up a heated air current sufficient to warm the 

 conservatories. The advantages of its use are, of 

 course, the entire absence of all gases likely to be 

 injurious to the plants, absence of dust, cleanliness, 

 and simplicity of construction in those parts of the 

 mechanism conveying the energy, as well as perfect 

 safety as regards the heat, and complete control over 

 it at any time. 



Margarine, as everybody knows, is artificial 

 butter, although it sounds very like the name of a 

 heroine in a novel. It reminds one of the opinion 

 publicly given by a teetotal bishop concerning a now 

 forgotten teetotal drink, that "it looked like beer, 

 smelt like beer, and yet wasn't beer." Margarine 



looks like butter, tastes like butter, but isn't butter. 

 Chemical analysis proved that it ought to be good 

 food, but the following illustration will perhaps 

 explain how it is people prefer good butter to good 

 margarine. At an asylum of blind children in Ken- 

 tucky, where butter had been used, the careful 

 manager substituted margarine, believing the old 

 proverb that what the eye cannot see the heart does 

 not grieve for. The blind children were, of course, 

 in no way conscious of the change in their dietary, 

 but by-and-by it was noticed that they gradually ate 

 less of it, and finally they declined it altogether. 

 No effect on their health was discerned, and the only 

 candid answer to their inquiries as to why they did 

 not take the butter was, because they did not care 

 about it. 



Some very interesting experiments have recently 

 been carried out in the central markets of Paris in 

 connection with the influence of the electric light 

 upon vegetable growth. The lights used were arc 

 lamps distributed amongst pine, beech, oak, and 

 birch trees. It was found that continuous electric 

 light produced considerable modifications of structure 

 in the leaves and shoots of the trees. The plants 

 breathed, assimilated, and secreted in a continuous 

 manner, but they appeared as if encumbered by their 

 continuity and showed a simpler structure. The 

 shoots were very green, the leaves more open, less 

 firm, and smaller in size. 



Irish agriculture is evidently undergoing a change. 

 The Government return just published shows that the 

 total area in Ireland under crops this year is an 

 increase of more than 6600 acres beyond that of last 

 year. The cultivation of oats alone is an increase of 

 nearly 1 100 acres, although wheat culture has di- 

 minished. In this respect the Irish agriculturists 

 display much common sense. The traditional illu- 

 sions concerning Pat's potatoes and Pat's pigs no 

 longer stand good, for potato cultivation shows a 

 decrease of over 13,000 acres. There is also a cor- 

 responding decrease in the raising of pigs, although 

 live stock generally has increased. 



The " Journal of Conchology " advertises the pro- 

 ceedings of the Conchological Society of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, which society during the last few months 

 has brought out a list 'of shells, called " The Concho- 

 logical Society's List of British Land and Fresh- 

 water Mollusca." Besides this, there are original 

 and interesting notes on a new species of Spondylus, 

 and a new Helix, by E. A. Smith, F.Z.S. ; Shell- 

 Hunting in Merionethshire, by G. W. Chaster ; on 

 Land and Freshwater Shells at Karachi, by G. W. 

 Adams ; Pupa ringens in Cheshire, etc., etc. 



The evolution of implements and weapons is very 

 instructive — as, indeed, is everything connected with 

 the history of humanity. The heroic verse which has 



