IIO Scientific News. [January, 
Darwins used sometimes to come down from London. Mr f 
Darwin liked children. They didn’t disturb him in the least. | 
There were sometimes twenty or thirty pairs of little shoes to be 
pi of a morning, but there were always plenty of servants to 
o this. 
“ The gardener used to bring plants into his room often ofa 
morning, and he used to tie bits of cotton on them, and tryta 
make them do things. He used to try all sorts of seeds. He 
would sow them in pots in his study. z a 
“There were a quantity of people in Westminster Abbey when 
he was buried. Mr. Parslow and the cook were among the chief 
mourners and satin the Jerusalem chamber. The whole church 
was as full of people as they could stand. There was great ds: | 
appointment in Down that he was not buried there. He loved tht 
place, and we think that he would rather have rested there had 
he been consulted.” —David S, Jordan, Lloomington, Indiana. 
— Sir A. Henry Layard, in his “ Nineveh and Babylon "e 
scribes a lens which he found in the course of his excavations 
sion of Dr. Birch, the keeper of Oriental Antiquities, the Journal 
of the Royal Microscopical Society has been enabled to figure 
it. The lens is thus referred to by Sir A. H. Layard: «with 
the glass bowls was discovered a rock crystal lens, with oppose 
convex and plane faces. Its properties could hardly have pe 
unknown to the Assyrians, and we have consequently the eaf we 
specimen of a magnifying and burning glass. It was buried 8 
pier ee enamel of some object in ivory or wood, which had 
A note from Sir David Brewster, quoted by Layard, ends d 
follows: “ Itis obvious from the shape and rude cutting We 
are entitled, therefore, to consider it as intended to be used el 
lens, either for magnifying or for contracting the rays of the pe 
which it does, however, very imperfectly.” “4 
Gh ‘monograph of the North American fresh-water sponge 
now in course of preparation by Mr. Edward Potts. The best a 
son for collecting sponges varies with the different speci dle 
may be generally stated to be from the last of July to the ™ 
or latter part of November, when the spicules and statos dilute 
are likely to be fully matured. They may be preserved in oe 
alcohol or dried by a few days’ exposure tothe air; in which eo 
dition Mr. Potts would be very happy to receive specimen) es, 
all parts of this and other countries. If packed in light class) 
strong enough to prevent crushing, the postage by mail (4t sat, | 
will be but one cent per ounce, which Mr. Potts will gladly ™ 
with any other reasonable expenses, He will acknowledge © 
