68 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



jectile has cut its way through, the pressure of the 

 cellulose being somewhat relieved in the area of the 

 wound, this material at once expands upon the latter 

 and effectually closes upon it. 



The second annual issue of "The Year Book of 

 Science," edited by Professor Bonney, F.R.S., is now 

 in a forward state of preparation, and will be shortly 

 published by Messrs. Cassell and Company. 



A Society has been just formed, to be called "The 

 Malacological Society of London." 



MICROSCOPY. 



Gum Thus. — -I had supposed that Gum Thus was 

 procurable in England as well as in the United 

 States ; but it is not, as I learn from an enquiry in 

 your December number. It is Gum Thus or Frank- 

 incense, and is got here from the tree of the pine. I 

 procured it from the L. R. Barnard Chemical Co., 

 dealers in dye-stuffs, chemicals, acids, oils, etc., at 

 58 Market Street, Newark, N.J., U.S. I dissolve 

 in commercial alcohol, with moderate heat, and then 

 jiour it off from the sediment. To this, three parts, I 

 add one part of Oil of Cinnamon. It is used like 

 Canada Balsam, but dissolves in weak ammonia, 

 alkali, carbonate of ammonia, soda or potash or 

 borax. These can be used to clean the slides from 

 superabundant medium. Those who have tried it, 

 speak in flattering terms of it. It is of a high 

 refractive index, makes diatoms come out well with 

 an ordinary one-fifth, and resolves the Amphipleura 

 pellurida with a one- twelfth immersion. The colour, 

 lightish-brown, is in the way, but I will bleach it 

 by-and-by. Cholorine does not bleach it well. Try 

 it, is all I say. — Arthur W. Edwards, M.D., 11 

 Washington Street, Newark, N.J. U.S. 



New Slides. — -We are pleased to acknowledge 

 the receipt of two - beautifully prepared slides by 

 Mr. C. W. Maw, of Bradford, one the transverse 

 section of the Lily of the Nile, and the other a similar 

 section of the Ovary of Narcissus. Both slides are 

 valuable teaching specimens. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Biscobra.— "When I first arrived in India, I 

 was posted to Gorakhpur. From the natives there I 

 heard of a lizard which they called biscobra or 

 biscopra ; they described it as being something like 

 the common house-lizard in shape, about 18 inches or 

 2 feet in length, of a blackish colour, and exceed- 

 ingly poisonous. When I asked to be shown one, 

 I was told that there were none in those parts. 

 Europeans whom I asked, considered the whole 

 thing a myth ; and such became my own opinion 



after a short while. Subsequently, when I found 

 that the natives regarded all lizards, even the common 

 house-lizard, as poisonous, I thought that the .bis- 

 cobra might possibly be a real lizard, but that its 

 poisonous qualities were mythical. However, when 

 I was subsequently transferred to Azamgarh, Mirza- 

 pur, and Allahabad, I found the native story was 

 always the same ; there was such a thing, but there 

 were none in those parts. .So I again began to 

 consider the whole thing as a myth, and an article in 

 the "Pioneer" confirmed me in this opinion. The 

 writer there stated that the biscobra had no real 

 existence whatever ; and that the origin of the belief 

 was due to the Portuguese, who, when they saw 

 cobras killed by the mungoose, believed that the 

 latter was more venomous than the cobra, and so 

 called it bis-cobra ; subsequently, the natives hearing 

 the Portuguese speak of a venomous animal called 

 the biscobra, did not think that the speakers were 

 referring to the mungoose, for which they have a 

 word of their own (neola), and which they know is 

 not poisonous. This seemed to me plausible enough, 

 and most probably the true explanation. However, 

 after this I was transferred to Banda, and there for 

 the first time I found a difference in the story told by 

 the natives. They said that the biscobra certainly 

 existed, and was found in that district, although 

 rarely ; and they seemed to entertain some doubt as 

 to whether it was really poisonous. They told me 

 that a predecessor of mine, wishing to disprove this, 

 had himself actually bitten by one, and no ill results 

 followed, but this did not absolutely convince them, 

 because it might be harmless to Europeans, and yet 

 poisonous to natives. I asked to have one shown to 

 me, but was told that it was too rare and uncertain 

 in its localities to be caught to order. One day, 

 when going to my office, I saw a lizard, which I at 

 once recognised from the description as a biscobra, 

 and at the same time, the origin of the name was 

 evident. Bis-cobra, poison-head, two purely 

 Hindustani words, and the reason for the name was 

 obvious, as the reptile had a large, and very ugly, 

 venomous-looking head. It was rather sluggish in 

 its movements, but the intervening ground being very 

 irregular, it escaped into a hole before I could catch 

 it. The legs were rather long, and the body carried 

 rather high. At the same time I do not think that 

 the account in the " Pioneer " was necessarily 

 entirely incorrect. It seems to me possible that the 

 Portuguese hearing the natives speak of a four-legged 

 creeping and very poisonous animal as existing, and 

 being named biscopra, may afterwards, when they saw 

 cobras killed by the mungoose, have believed that it 

 was the animal referred to. — J. R. Holt. 



Cheimatobia brumata and Hybernia rupi- 

 CAPRARIA CONTEMPORANEOUS. — During a country 

 ramble on the 30th of last January, I took both the 

 above-named moths floating on the water of the same 



