NATUBAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



91 



educated at the school in his na- 

 tive place, where his father was 

 one of the masters. This prepara- 

 tory course was followed by indus- 

 trious private study, including 

 German scientific literature, and 

 medical instruction received from 

 a brother-in-law, who was a physi- 

 cian. Afterwards he attended lec- 

 tures at the Medical School of the 

 Charing Cross Hospital. 



In 1845 he passed the first ex- 

 amination for the degree of M. D. 

 at the University of London, and 

 took honors in physiology. Hav- 

 ing passed the requisite examina- 

 tion he was, in 1846, appointed 

 assistant surgeon of H. M. S. Vic- 

 tory for service at Haslay Hospi- 

 tal. His next appointment was as 

 assistant surgeon to H. M. S. Rat- 

 tlesnake, and he spent the greater 

 part of the time, from 1847 to 1850, 

 off the eastern and northern coasts 

 of Australia. 



In 1858 he was appointed Croon- 

 ian lecturer to the Royal Society, 

 when he chose for his subject the 

 "Theory of the Vertebrate Skull." 

 In 1859 his large work on "The 

 Ocean Hydrozoa; a Description of 

 the Calycopohoridae and Physo^ 

 phoridae," observed during his 

 voyage, with illustrative plates, 

 was published by the Royal So- 

 ciety. When, in i860, it became 

 Prosessor Huxley's duty to give 

 one of' the courses of lectures to 

 the workingmen in Jermyn street, 

 he selected for his subject "The 

 Relation of Man to the Lower An- 

 imals." The questions arising out 

 of this topic became the subject of 

 warm controversy at the meeting 

 of the British association in that 

 and subsequent years. 



He was elected lord rector of 

 Aberdeen University for three 

 years December 14, 1872, and in- 

 stalled February 27, 1874. In 

 1873 he was elected secretary of 

 the Royal Society. During Pro- 

 fessor Wyville Thompson's ab- 

 sence with the Challenger expedi- 

 tion, Professor Huxley acted as his 

 substitute as professor of natural 

 history at the University of Edin- 

 burgh in the summer sessions of 

 1875 and 1876. In the latter year 

 he received the Wollaston medal 

 of the Geological Society. He 

 had received the honorary degree 

 of Ph. D. from the University of 

 Breslau, M. D. from the Univer- 

 sity of Wurzburg, LL. D. from 

 the Universities of Edinburgh, 

 Dublin (1878), and Cambridge 

 (1879), D. C. L. from the Univer- 

 sity of Oxford (1885), and he was 

 elected a fellow of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons in 1884. 



He delivered the Rede lecture 

 at Cambridge, June 12, 1883, the 

 subject being "The Origin of the 

 Existing Forms of Animal Life — 

 Construction or Evolution." In 

 1885 Professor Huxley resigned 

 his official duties, including the in- 

 spectorship of fisheries and the 

 presidency of the Royal Society. 

 Professor Huxley was well known 

 as a writer on natural science, be- 

 ing the author of numerous papers 

 published in the Transactions and 

 Journals of the Royal, the Lin- 

 nean, the Geological and the Zo- 

 ological Societies, and in the Me- 

 moirs of the Geological Survey of 

 Great Britain. In addition to the 

 works mentioned above he had 

 written "Lessons in Elementary 

 Physiology," 1866; and many sub- 

 sequent editions; "An Introduc- 

 tion to the Classification of Ani- 

 mals," 1869, etc. 



Preserving Sea Weeds. 



The following recipe is recom- 

 mended by Dr. J. P. Lotsy for 

 preserving examples of Florldeae 

 for microscopic examination: "The 

 specimen is first laid in a 1 per 

 cent solution of chrome alum in 

 sea water and kept there for a pe- 

 riod varying from one to twenty- 

 four hours, according to the size 

 and texture of the species. The 

 chrome alum is then completely 

 washed out and the specimen 

 placed in a mixture 5 ccm. of 96 

 per cent of alcohol in 100 ccm. of 

 water and vigorously stirred. The 

 amount of alcohol is then increas- 

 ed by increments of 5 ccm. every 

 quarter of an hour until it amounts 

 to 50 ccm. The specimen is then 

 removed and placed in a mixture 

 of 25 per cent alcohol in distilled 

 water, and the quantity of alcohol 

 again increased in the same way, 

 till it amounts to 50 ccm. alcohol 

 to 100 ccm. of water. The same 

 process is again repeated with 50, 

 60, 70, 80, and 90 per cent solu- 

 tions of alcohol in distilled water; 

 the specimen being finally pre- 

 served in the last." — Scientific 

 A m eric an. 



The Strangest Insect in the 

 World. 



The aweto, as the Maoris or na- 

 tives of New Zealand call it, or 

 Hipialis virescens, as naturalists 

 term it, is found in New Zealand, 

 and is a vegetable caterpillar of 



from three to four inches in length, 

 and, so far, science has not been 

 able to say whether it is a vegeta- 

 ble or an insect. It is always 

 found at the foot of large myrtle 

 trees that have beautiful red 

 flowers on their stems, and a beau- 

 tiful creeping clematis as white as 

 the snow. The Maoris call this 

 tree by the name of rata. The 

 aweto buries itself among the roots 

 of the rata, a few inches below the 

 ground, and there lives until it is 

 full grown, when it undergoes a 

 most wonderful change. The 

 spore of a vegetable fungus, term- 

 ed by naturalists Sophaeria robertsit, 

 fastens itself to the neck of the 

 caterpiller, just between the head 

 and the first ring, and then grows 

 upward to the height of from six 

 to eight inches. 



Many people assert that there is 

 never more than one stem, but 

 such is not the case, for some have 

 been found with two stems, al- 

 though very rarely. The stem 

 shoots up out of the ground, above 

 where the caterpillar is living, 

 about two or three inches; below 

 the earth it grows into the aweto, 

 until it fills up every possible space 

 within the outer skin without 

 changing the form of the insect in 

 the slightest way whatsoever, but 

 simply substituting a vegetable 

 matter for animal matter. As soon 

 as this takes place both the plant 

 and the caterpillar become dry and 

 hard and die, but retain exactly 

 the same form as when alive. The 

 whole has a brown color, and the 

 insect appears a wooden caterpill- 

 ar, with a huge horn standing up 

 from the back of its neck. 



How the caterpillar manages to 

 propagate its species no one can 

 tell. Usually the caterpillar be- 

 comes a chrysalis, the chrysalis 

 changes into a moth, the moth 

 lays eggs, and these eggs again 

 become caterpillars, and so on 

 without stopping. Many reasons 

 are given why the plant shoots up 

 from the back of the neck of the 

 aweto. One is that the aweto has 

 a slimy substance oozing from its 

 neck, which, while the aweto is 

 boring at the foot of the rata tree 

 for its only food, catches the seed 

 of the fungus and holds it fast 

 there till the latter begins to grow. 

 When it has sucked all the vege- 

 table life out of the aweto it must 

 naturally die, for it finds no further 

 nourishment. The aweto is often 

 found in large numbers. — Public 

 Opinion. 



