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| Scienee- Gassip:
AN ILLUSTRATED MEDIUM OF INTERCHANGE AND GOSSIP
FOR STUDENTS AND
ILONTEIKS (Ole INAOMU IRIE.
EDITED BY
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HON. MEMBER OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB, OF THE SUFFOLK INSTITUTE OF ARCHAOLOGY AND NAT. HISTORY, OF THE NORWICH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, OF -THE MARYPORT SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, OF THE ROTHERHAM LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, OF THE NORWICH SCIENCE-GOSSIP CLUB, OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA, OF THE VICTORIAN FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB, ETC. ETC.
VOLUME XXVIII.
London:
CH MEO eAND WV INDUS, PICGADIMEIY: | 1892. |
[AM rights reserved. |
LONDON : a PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
| STAMFORD STREET. AND CHARING CROSS, ©
: 215 -PQ45- WA
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| writing a few lines by way of Preface to the Annual volume of
SCIENCE-GossIP, the Editor calls to mind that this is the twenty- eighth yearly presentation to the world of a Magazine founded and edited in the interests of popular Science. The period in question is a long one, even in the life of a man; it is comparatively longer in that of a Magazine. Within its lifetime what hosts of new discoveries have been made; what myriads of original observations have been chronicled! The entire history of Science has no more eventful period. The twenty-eight volumes of cur Magazine constitute the best popular encyclopedia of this eventful time. No wonder, therefore, they are constantly in demand among our newer subscribers ; and inquired for in publishers’ and booksellers’ Catalogues, in the “Original blue cloth.” SCIENCE-GOssIP stands alone in the fact that its earlier numbers fetch more than their original price. Even its own publishers offer double for certain numbers, to make up sets; and those from the first to the two hundred and twenty-eighth issues are stated at eightpence instead of fourpence.
Within its literary lifetime, SCIENCE-GossIP has had to compete with numerous rivals; but it has succeeded in keeping its place in spite of able and keen competition. We would point out that each annual volume has been marked by distinct scientific features. In the present volume, for example, we would call attention to the able and original papers of Messrs. Lord, B. Thomas, Bryce, Nunning, Harcourt- Bath, P. Thompson, H. Friend, A. Bennett, T. V. Holmes, Tansley,
PREFACE.
Griset, T. D. Cockerell, and others, in illustration. All the chief events in Natural Science have been discussed with an open mind. Nothing of importance in this department of modern research and observation has been left out.
Men’s lives wear out, and old and zealous contributors die off. New ones take their places, and one of the chief pleasures of the Editor's experience is the geniality displayed by his numerous correspondents. The price of SCIENCE-GOsSIP is not likely to bring its publishers a mine of wealth, but the Editor can testify to their zealous co-operation and sympathy with its aims and work. On this account alone, therefore, he asks the individual aid of every one of its present subscribers to introduce the Magazine they evidently like so well to their friends, so as to ensure a still larger circulation. The hands of both Editor and Publishers would be much strengthened thereby, and the fame of the now familiar old “Gossip” would be spread wider than ever.
Christmas is the season for greetings, and although the apparently official task of writing a few lines of Preface for twenty-two years successively at length approaches the nature of a task, it is not because of the lack of sympathy manifested by readers and con- tributors. Their name is Legion. Christmas comes but once a year, but it enables the Editor to shake cordial hands, metaphorically, with all his unseen friends, and wish them all a warm
CHRISTMAS GREETING.
DiS Or THE USTRATIONS.
Actinospheriume Euhhoriit, page 29
Actinophrys sol, 28
Eschna cyanea, 205
Agrion puella, 204
Allotophora longa, 161
Ameeba, showing contractile space, etc., 52
Amphulepius fasciola, 135
Ancient Cromlech, 249
Antsonenta sulcata, 10t
Anthophysa Miilleri, tor
Astasia limpida, 81
Bure-Tie Mors, Ecc or, 229 Butterwort, ro4 Butterwort, Calyx of, 104
CaspBace Motu, Ecc or, 229
Calopteryx virgo, 204
Calyx of Butterwort, 104
Capnia nigra, 37
Cercomonas acuminata, 10t
Chetonotus larus, 148
Chaetoglena volvocinea, 100
Chalk Cliffs in Sussex, 248
Chilodon cucullus, 136
Chloroperia grammatica, 37
Chlorophyll Bodies of the “‘Scum” Glo- bules, go
Clathrulina elegans, 125, 126
Coleps hirtus, 148
Common Encrinite, 152
Contum maculatum, Fruit of, 84
Cothurnia maritima, 232
Cyclops quadricornis, 221
Cypris tristriata, 268
Datsy, HEN-AND-CHICKENS, 163
Daphnia pulex, 245
Daphnia Schefferi, 245
Diagram Section from Barking to Plum- | stead, 181 }
Dutyopteryx inicrocephala, 37
Distyla agilis, 272, 273
Distyla clara, 273
Doxococcus ruber, 100
EFFECTS OF Sirocco ABRASION ON Rus, 9 Elephant’s Tooth, Fossil, 248
Enchelys nodulosa, 137 Encrinite, Common, 152 Ephippiger selligere, 5 Euglena longicauda, 100 Euglena pyrum, 100 Euglena viridis, 100
Farry Fry, 176
Fenestella plebeia, 152 Fenestella nodulosa, 152
| Filaria, Head and Tail of, 12
Fossil Bird, Jaw of, 248
Fossil Elephant’s Tooth, 248 Fowl, Head of, 113
Fruit of Conzume maculatum, 34
Grass TuBEs, 93 Gozo Hills, from the Sea, 8
Green Worm, 108
Halteria grandinella, 137 Head of Fowl, 116 Hedriocystis pellucida, 124, 125 Hen-and-Chickens Daisy, 163
| Hilara pilosa, 86
Hydra viridis, 156
Tsogenus nubecula, 27 Tsopteryx tripunctata, 37
Jaw or Fossit Brrp, 248
_ Fungermannia biscuspidata, 142
LEUCOCYTES, 12
Leuctra fusciventris, 37
| Macrotrachela multispinosa, 33
Macrotrachela papillosa, 58 Magpie-Moth, Egg of, 229 Mason’s Lanter, 236 Meadow-Brown, Eye of, 229 Monkshood, Section of Flower of, Monostyla bifurca, 272 Monostyla galeata, 273 Monsters, 61, 62, 63, 64
Napirorm Roots, 84 Nemoura variegata, 37
| New Microscopical Lamp, 113, 114
| OBSERVATIONS ON PRIMULACE®, 225 Odynerus murareus, 196, 197
| On the Underground Geology of London ,
251
Paramecium aurelia, 10 Paramecium Bursaria, 136 Paramectune linetunt, 10 Parasitic Rotifer, 220
Perla maxima, 36, 37
Phacus pleuronotes, 100
Phallus impudicus, 16, 17
Pierts brassice, Eggs of, 229 Pinguicula lusitanica, 105 Polyommatus corydon, Egg of, 229 Primulacez, Observations on, 225
Rep ApMIRAL, EGG oF, 229
Sanp-ToTs ALONG THE SOMERSETSHIRE Coast, 76
Sarcophaga carnaria, 86
Sarcoptes, 12
| “Scum” Globules, 90
Scyphodia, 233
Section of Flower of Monkshood, 84
| Section through Ancient Earth-works, Hastings, 33 ©
Small Copper, Egg of, 229
Spirostomum ambiguium, 137
Stentor Miilleri, 174
Stentor viridts, 173
Structure of Yeliuaw Archangel, 183
Stylonychia mytellius, 149
Taniopteryx nebulosa, 37
Trichoda lynceus, 172
Trichodina pediculus, 233
Trilobite, 153
Tway-blade, Remarkable Specimen ot, 188
Vaginicola crystallina, 232 Vorticella nebulifera, 175
YELLOW ARCHANGEL, STRUCTURE OF, 182
Zoothamnium spirale, 232
THE EXTINCTION OF THE GREAT SEA-SERPENT.
By RICHARD BEYNON, F.R.G.S.
yy HE nineteenth cen-
AQ. tury is an age of transition. There is little that has es- caped signing with the mark of change. Scientific develop- ment has invested most things with a modern air of im- provement and utility that contrasts violently with the staidness and slow- pacedness so cha- racteristic of the age of our grand- fathers. Then people had leisure to be sentimental, now the stern demands of the business of life de- nominate sentiment unprofitable, and we sigh in vain for the more credulous and less curious days of yore, when the earth yet possessed hidden corners and the ocean unfathomed depths, in which the imagination might roam at will, peopling land and sea with grotesque fancies of curious birds and flowers, strange animals, and still stranger fishes. But all this is changed. Geographical exploration and research have very materially circumscribed the confines of the district where the possibilities of nature were existent, and instead of revelling among the luxuriant idealisms of the might-be, we must perforce content ourselves with the more prosaic knowledge of that which absolutely is. Long after the teachings of travel had dispelled the old illusions
“Of the cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders,” popular belief still loved to inhabit the recesses of the ocean with monsters, traditions of which had
No. 325.—JANUARY 1892.
been handed down from the very earliest ages. It is a melancholy fact that such creations do not survive the irresistible adyance of modern science. The blast of the steam-whistle seems fatal to romance, and the endless procession of steamships that join in the bonds of commerce the nations whom the seas divide, will soon tend to reduce ocean voyaging to the practical level of a railway journey. But there is one belief deep-rooted in the nautical mind, and equally accepted by landsmen, that probably wiil never be effectively eradicated. The great sea- serpent always has and always will be a denizen of the ocean. Why should not the mighty sea produce a creation worthy of itself? ‘*The wisest palzeon- tologists deny its existence,”’ say the sceptics. They are able to find no definite data upon which to assign the monster a place in the ranks of animated nature. ““Never mind positive proof,” argue the believing ones, ‘prove conclusively that the creature does zo¢ exist, and then, and not till then, will we give up our faith in its being.”. And so it has come to pass that the sea-serpent lives on, and will continue to do so until its existence is disproved—a task admittedly impossible.
The widespread belief in the existence of some great ocean monster has been common among all maritime nations ‘from the very first ages, and the prevalent faith in the great sea-serpent is no doubt traceable to the myths of our Aryan ancestors. It is worthy of note that the popular notion of the sea- serpent is decidedly Miltonic. In ‘‘ Paradise Lost” the description of the arch-fiend is the exact prototype of the sea-serpent as seen by captains of merchantmen and others.
“‘ With head uplift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed; his other parts besides Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size.”
The Kraken, so minutely described by Pontop- pidan, the good Bishop of Bergen, goes on all fours with the account of the serpent alluded to
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2 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP.
above. The sea-serpent of his day was seen to rise from the sea in undulations, the visible portions looking like islands covered with seaweed, while it waved in the air mast-like arms, capable of dragging ships beneath the waves ; its sudden sinking caused a whirlpool credited with the power of engulfing the stoutest vessels. It is unjust to the memory of the good and pious Pontoppidan to: think that such a keen observer of nature is exaggerating, but in all probability the Kraken was one of the gigantic cephalopods which occasionally make their appear- ance off the Norwegian shore. The Atlantic Ocean is, however, fav excellence the home of the sea- serpent. This is not as might be expected, for it is a well-known fact that certain parts of the Indian Ocean, especially those adjacent to India and the East Indian Archipelago, swarm with veritable sea- serpents, members of the genus Hydrophis or Hydrus. These creatures, which resemble eels, being keeled on their under sides, are but from two to five feet in length; and it is no doubt owing to their smallness of size, and the fact that they occur near land and in considerable numbers, that they have never been magnified into real ‘‘ great sea- serpents.”
In mentioning a few of the best authenticated instances of the sea-serpent placing itself in evidence, it must be remembered that the monster appeared most frequently when the ocean was much less traversed than it is at present, when wind-power reigned supreme, and the size of merchant-vessels was far below their present dimensions. Many a ship-master then had the tedium of a long sea voyage agreeably enlivened by a cursory view of the great leviathan whose existence his sympathies and training forbade him to doubt.
In 1818 we have the solemnly-atiested evidence of the master and one of the crew of the American schooner Adamant that they saw a gigantic sea- serpent not far from the Atlantic littoral of the States. At first it was guessed to be a half-submerged wreck, but this illusion was dispelled by the creature uncoiling itself and rearing its head above the waves. The description of this monster is graphic and very detailed. Its colour was black, and its length 130 feet, while its neck was upwards of six feet in diameter. Bullets rebounded from its scaly encase- ment ; and for upwards of five hours it was on view to the schooner’s crew.
The Atlantic sea-board of the United States would seem to be the favourite haunt of the sea-serpent, for in June, 1815, and in August, 1817, he is said to have been frequently seen disporting himself off Gloucester, some thirty miles from Boston. This specimen appears to have been of the Pontoppidan type, for he looked like a number of buoys placed in a line. His length was variously estimated from 90 feet to 250 yards, a rather marked difference between the two limits. Once again, in 1819, he
was seen off Nahant, also in close proximity to Boston, this time making curves perpendicular to the plane of the water. He paid yet another visit to this locality, being seen in almost the same spot in the summer of 1833. The latitude of Boston is 424° N., yet this does not mark the northern limit of the sea-serpent’s peregrinations. In June, 1834, he was encountered by the ship Rodertson, of Greenock, in 47° N., 59° W. On this occasion he moved through the waters at a speed of nine miles an hour, keeping up with the vessel and exposing his head and shoulders, which were covered with a thick fluted skin of a green colour. In 1835 the great serpent was encountered twice, each time by vessels voyaging between Boston and New Orleans. He is next seen by Captain Blyl, of the barque Hendrix, this time south of the line, in 27°S., 15° E. They sailed in company for nine days, when it dropped astern and finally disappeared below the horizon. There is something very peculiar in the behaviour of this specimen, for he allowed upwards of one hundred bullets to penetrate his skin and tinge the sea with blood, without it occurring to him that he could escape from his foes either by submerging himself in the water, or putting a greater distance between himself and his tormentors. For nine days he withstood their annoyance, and then was left behind by the vessel increasing its pace.
Perhaps the most important case on record of the appearance of a sea-serpent is that reported by the officers and crew of H.M. Frigate Daedalus in 1848. The vessel was 24° 44’ S. and 9° 20’ E., in the South Atlantic Ocean not far from the coast of Africa, when, according to the account forwarded by the captain to the Admiralty, a huge monster was encountered swimming rapidly ; ‘‘ an enormous serpent with head and shoulders kept about four feet constantly above the surface of ithe sea. The diameter of the serpent was about fifteen or sixteen inches behind the head, which was without any doubt that of a snake, and it was never during the twenty minutes that it con- tinued under the view of our glasses once below the surface of the water. Its colour was a dark brown with yellowish white about the throat. Ithad no fins but something like the mane of a horse, or rather a bunch of sea-weed washed about its back.” It is a matter of great pity that the exact position of this particular specimen in the scale of nature was not ascertained. It approached as near as 100 yards to the vessel, and the gunnery staff of the Dedalus must have made very indifferent practice could they not have struck so large a target as the monster pre- sented to them. Drawings of this sea-serpent appeared in the ‘‘ Illustrated London News,” and a controversy was provoked relative to the existence or non-existence of great sea-serpents, which caused much ill-feeling and which took long to subside. One theory sug- gested that to account for the animal seen by the Dedalus it was only necessary to suppose it was some
HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. B
member of the seal or walrus family. It is a well- known fact that such creatures are often found afloat on fragments of ice which are detached from the parentice-field. These detached portions travel from the pole, equatorwards, and melting away as they pass into warmer latitudes, deposit their living freight in the ocean, where they must swim for dear life to the nearest land to procure rest and food. If the sea monster under discussion were of this class, he was apparently fated to meet witha watery grave, for in the words of the report: “‘It did not either in approaching the ship or after it had passed our wake deviate in the slightest degree from its course to the south-west, which it held on at the pace of from twelve to fifteen miles an hour, apparently on some determined purpose.”
It is rather a coincidence that some six weeks later the Dapéne, an American brigantine, reported passing in 4°S., 10° E. a gigantic creature of the snake family. It appeared about too feet in length and had the stereotyped appearance of the serpent or snake with a dragon’s head. From the locality where the Dedalus monster was observed to where the crew of the Daphne descried theirs is, roughly speaking, some 1,500 miles ; and assuming, as has been suggested, that the animal was one and the same creature, then itmust lave followed pretty closely the trend of the African littoral. Assuming this supposition to be feasible, it is rather peculiar to note the nomenclature of the more salient features of the coast along which the creature would pass.
Great Fish Bay, Little Fish Bay, Walvisch (Whale- fish) Bay, Nourse River and Whale :Head, all show that great fish and seal-like animals abound off the coast, so that it is quite within the bounds of possibility that the “‘sea-serpent” was some huge fish whose visible parts presented the appearance ascribed to the ** creat sea-serpent.”
Some nine years subsequent to this, the crew and officers of the ship Castz/ian were entertained with the sight of some ocean monster when navigating close to the island of St. Helena. Some ten or twelve feet of the creature’s head were visible above the waves, and the total length of the ‘‘serpent” was variously estimated at from 200 to 450 feet. Itseems strange that there should be such disparity in the estimates of the creature’s length, for the monster lay extended on the ocean and the distance of the vessel was but thirty yards.
Navigators of the present day think twice before reporting the seeing of a ‘‘sea-serpent.” Superstition and with it the belief in the ‘‘ great sea-serpent ” are fast being banished from the British Mercantile Marine, and a master who reports seeing anything of the kind is certain to bring down upon his head a torrent of ridicule. But the monster is not yet defunct. America, which in the opinion of a section of its inhabitants enjoys a monopoly of all that is great and marvellous in nature, has still some three
or four of these gigantic snakes cruising in their waters, and each season they considerately raise their heads above the surface of the sea in the neighbour- hood of.some fashionable watering-place, and the imagination of the visitors and the press fill in the detaiis with a graphic minuteness of detail that leaves nothing to be desired. To the remainder of the world the ‘‘sea-serpent” is almost extinct. It has died out like the dodo, and even its prior existence is now regarded as extremely mythical. But in 1890 at such a well-crossed spot as 42° N., 29° W., a sea-serpent presented itself to the astounded gaze of the master and crew of the Zhomas Hilyard. It is matter for regret that this monster of the deep did not choose to reveal itself to some Atlantic liner, for then, among the many eyes that would have gazed upon it, some might be relied upon to observe the creature with a quiet and scientific scrutiny and to convey to the rest of mankind a true picture of the creature, founded upon what really is and not upon preconceived notions of the appearance an orthodox sea-serpent should present. From a few words of alternative description in the account of the monster encountered by the Zhomas Hilyard we may draw our own conclusions as to the decadence of popular belief in the existence of the great sea-serpent. The creature is not represented as being a sea-serpent and “nothing more,” it is a sea-serpent ov a gigantic fish of the conger-eel species. There is much virtue in the ‘‘or,”’ and the hardy skipper of the 7omas Hilyard has placed on record a pretty accurate estimate of the state of nautical opinion regarding the sea- serpent.
Yet one more manifestation, this time off the coast of North Island, N.Z. The account given of the monster, as seen by the chief officer of the Rotomahana, is singularly lucid and circumstantial. It runs as follows :—
‘¢On the morning of the Ist of August (1891), about 6.30 o’clock, we were’ off Portland Light, between Gisborne and Napier. I was on deck, look- ing over the weather-side for land, when I saw the object, whatever it was, rise out of the water to the height of thirty feet. Its shape was like a huge conger-eel, with the exception of two fins about ten feet long. The creature was not more than I0o yards away, and I estimated its girth at between ten and twelve feet. It was broad daylight at the time, and the sun was shining brightly !” ;
This statement is substantially corroborated by the quarter-master of the same vessel, who saw the creature first and drew the chief officer’s attention to it. If further evidence were wanting that a sea monster of some kind or other has placed itself on evidence in New Zealand waters, it is to be found in the parallel testimony of a surveyor resident at Gisborne, who wrote to the New Zealand papers that while on another of the Union Company’s steamers, the Manapouri, on July 24th, he and several others
B2
4 ; HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
saw a sea-serpent resembling the one seen from the Rotomahana off Portland Island. The monster was also seen by the officer in charge of the vessel. It is difficult, indeed, to properly assess the value of this, the latest contribution to sea-serpent lore.
Now the question very naturally occurs to all: What |
is the exact value attachable to the minute accounts of the sea-serpents reported by actual eye-witnesses ? To say that they were sheer fabrications, nautical twisters, invented to feed a popular prejudice, would be to throw a doubt on the character of the seaman for veracity that is most unjust and unreasonable, Yet to admit zw foto the infallibility of any one of the accounts of the ‘‘great sea-serpent” is to accept as a tangible fact the existence of a creature which the major portion of humanity are agreed to regard as purely mythical. Probably those who have helped most largely to feed the at one time wide- spread belief in the ubiquitous monster of the deep but reported accurately what they thought they saw. Granted that a seaman has a traditional notion of what a sea-serpent should be like, he will mould anything which resembles that appearance to his own ideal and hence no doubt the marked agreement between the leviathan of poetry and art and Jack’s sea-serpent. At sea the most keen-sighted may easily be deceived, and a floating log, festooned with sea-weeds and enveloped ever and anon with the spray that flashes from the ocean swell, would present an appearance quite analogous to a bemaned sea monster :
“A great serpent of the deep, Lifting his horrible head above the waves.”
It is but sufficient to premise a belief in the existence of the great sea-serpent and the ever- changing sea-scape of an ocean voyage will present abundance of visible phenomena that may well be read as “sea-serpent.” The eye often deceives itself and may often see objectively that which the ima- gination conjures up and which the mind is quite prepared to encounter. No doubt this tendency has much to do with recorded appearances of the sea- serpent, for it is remarkable that in the majority of cases one observance is generally followed by corro- borative appearances.
Despite all this, however, despite the teachings of science, the sea-serpent belief dies hard. The great leviathan that takes his sport in the great waters is one of the sights that they who go down to the sea in ships will continue to see for some time to come yet. But as far as popular belief in the existence of the great sea beast is concerned its knell is already rung and one of the most poetical and grandest conceptions of ocean’s inhabitants is fast passing away before the unsympathising realism of the nineteenth century. But even its bitterest opponents must admit that little is gained by the expurgation of the belief from the popular mind. The loss may be an abstract one,
but it isa great one notwithstanding, for in the words of ** Nature’s poet :”
“But yet I know where’er I go, That there hath passed away A glory from the earth.”
TO THE VINEYARDS AND THE PLAY. By A. H. SwInTon.
CTOBER, that has embroidered the vineyards of La Vendée with a cloth of gold, has commenced to paint the greenwood with fiery yellow and vermilion ; and as it were by magic the rows of aspens which have so long pattered fretfully in the sighs of the west wind, are dropping their amber leaves around our hamlet, where the round copper- coloured gourds are reddening to orange. Besides its glory of situation among tumbling crags and knolls, our loveliest of villages does not appear to satisfy the longing, except the fancy should suggest a broth of garden snails with a dandelion salad, and an exhilarating scamper up to the round tower among the vines in the wheelbarrow drawn by the two trusty house-dogs ; for as for the feudal horse-pond mantled with its frog’s-bit, and the yoke of beautiful cows that are pawing on the threshold, they have well-nigh broken our hearts and caused us to com- miserate the patriarch in his ark. But the maiden is straying over the meadows and singing at her distaff, the children have just run out shouting, with their pieces of bread and bunches of grapes; there dwells a gladness in the blue sky,’and we, like them, will betake us to the solitude and sweet converse of the lanes and woodlands, and gaze with them on the magnificent decorations of the expiring year.
How strange it appears that the delightful summer should so suddenly vanish! While September lasted it was pleasant to sit in the urban gardens and listen to the tinkle of the bells, as the carriage drawn by its four goats in blue tags with two dogs in leash, swept past on the grand tour, and disappeared among bright lights, deep shadows and startling contrasts of colour, due to a diversity of trees there massed together and interspersed with ponds and rockeries. The Ginko biloba was then covered with its maiden-hair foliage, the Desmodium pendulifolium still drooped in fasciculated bunches of purple, the more lowly Mattiola incana was dotted over with its red plant- bugs, the shady magnolia walks from time to time disclosed their fleshy nectarious blossoms, and the widely spreading cedar was only just commencing to put forth its mealy flowers: whereas the fitful rustle of the bamboos, papyrus, and sturdy fan-palms, seemed to bespeak the monotony of an eternal summer. It seems but quite lately too that long, narrow barges came floating down with their hay- ticks into that modern Babel, situated on the rivers ;
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 5
when man, woman and child were out on the sloping bank disporting with pitchforks and sticks, as though it were a hayfield: and it seems but as yesterday that a heavy smoke rolled up at evening from the spontaneous ignition of the damp store. It appears but quite lately that the little livid cockroaches, forewarned by thé chill of an impending change, attempted to establish their colony in the hinge of the hospitable door, and when ousted by the housemaid’s broom, that its minute progeny hid away in the hair brush. It lastly seems but quite recently that the house-ants, made aware by scent and by touch of the onslaught on the cockroaches, appeared like ghouls from some unknown regions, to banquet upon the dying and the dead.
Let us go down by the way of the vineyards and behold the gnarly vines rejuvernescent with fragrant and tender grapes. Many ofthe autumnal butterflies
flutter past us in fresh array, and some of them may be accounted a prize, but until the verdant green species described in some unprocurable Russian work becomes the rage, or those which are phenominal and semi-extinct be sought for, it will be difficult, methinks, to estimate the value of a butterflyion these yasty acres. What superlative charm for the curioso is to be found in the waste of cherry blossom flaming with scarce swallow-tails, in the lucern-field ghostly with Bath whites, in a patch of dwarf furze fluttering with Arion-blues, in a heathery tract where the Meliteas are glaring like the Guernsey lilies, in the bed of pansies silvery with Queens of Spain, or in a wildemess of agrimony golden with large coppers. Is this, you nice Londoners will be prone to exclaim, that thing so new, so beautiful and so rare, that was embroidered in needlework and described so vaguely ; that was heard of out at Hampstead and believed in at Epping, that used to visit the Camber-
well willows and frequented the Westminster haw- thorns, that was dodged over the mere and run down on the wolds? No longer smitten with withering beauty disclosed by the haze of the morning, our thoughts ofttimes in their plenitude become a weariness and a burden: let us then 'seek a solace in the discovery of new horizons. Over the brambles along which the big dragon-fly is hawking trail beaded clusters of fruit as large as raspberries, whose fragrant juice hornets and plant-bugs are tippling, and just within reach among the prickles there depends a sparkling object resembling a choice pear carved out of malachite. A sly sidelong glance suffices to show that this dainty morsel is a tree-frog who is breathing softly, and no artist could have conceived a happier idea of comfort than that presented by his contemplative profile as he squats huddled together with half-shut eyes.
SSNS
SRR
Fig. 1.—LZphippiger selligere (the songster of La Vendée). The bald-headed man in the horizon is supposed to be the moon.
C, its musical comb; £,‘its ears.
Now you who love the violin and the serenade, come hither, for the hedge-bank has become an opera- house that is rattling and roaring to the orchestra. The drama is entitled the “ Martinmas Summer, or all for love,” and the performers are the grass- hoppers, Stenobothrus, and the leaf-crickets, Dec- ticus, Locusta and Ephippiger. The choregraphy of the one, as you will quickly perceive, is a warning trill of suppressed emotion and defiance, interspersed with tender passages composed of low and grating notes that fall somewhat harshly on the enamoured ear: that of the other is a whistling shrill of hasty passion interspersed with staccato notes that trip it lightly on the understanding. In both cases the lovers are fiery and boisterous, and their lady loves are from habit or from nature, silent, coy and distrustful ; just like Madam Locusta now, who leans so caressingly on one side to catch the sunbeams with a leg akimbo. But the Signor garbed in green,
6 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
whose voice is as the rush of a cataract, has already stepped out into the vacant field of glory. See, after haying flung out a defiance to his rivals, how meekly he sits upon the twig over the head of Madam, to whom he plays, and who from time to time feels hesitatingly for him with her thread-like feelers. Come, that was a gentle touch now, and none of the smart boxing which the little wood white butter- flies indulge in when they buffet with their nose-pads, but Madam she won’t endure it, and so she has prudently hopped aside, just as the Signor comes down with his impromptu leap and occupies her vacant place. Of course at the outset it is a little novel to be the witness of a performance where the grasshoppers who play the bass are industriously utilizing their legs as fiddle-bows, which, instead of being:rubbed with rosin, have from sheer hard usage acquired a row of ivory knobs; and where the leaf- crickets who undertake the treble, are employing an ebon black comb concealed beneath the wing. And do you not remark a superb and echoing ring in the notes of Signor Locusta, who seems to chatter in absolute despair? And then as to ears, does it not strike you that such frantic love-making must needs set the whole body a trembling like the lustres of a chandelier? and it is for this very reason that the grasshoppers have theirs hidden away behind their legs ; and as for the Signor and Madam, why they carry a brace sticking into the first pair like a couple of mushrooms. Our play, as you will recall, is All for love.
During the interlude the grasshoppers rattle on, and the little Dectici whirr dizzily in the hedge-roots with the tremulous sound of a watch that is being wound up. Such music becomes a trifle monotonous, predisposing you to slumber, but it finds a harmony in the dull murmur of the meadows, and what seems most strange, all the performers consider the roll of the passing cart-wheel to be a cry of encore, even saluting with a salvo the fitful chiming of the clock on the grey church tower. Perchance the wish occurs at the outset to seize and imprison one of our troop: should you think pfoper to do so, he would then no longer shrill his noon-tide reveries, but his ardours would kindle and flash at the evening star, increasing -at the witching hour to a fusee of half a thousand notes or so. Darkness, prithee, would then acquire a new and melancholy sweetness. Meanwhile the scene has changed, for the two rival Ephippigers of the vine come stalking over the tops of the brambles, pausing as they advance to snip-snap defiance at each other, like two clicks of a steam engine, or two jingles of the horse-bells. Very elegant are these portly, hunched-backs with their white-ringed green or brown bodies, that recall the cricketing flannels and suggest a man-tiger corded with stays. Those who have chanced to catch a glimpse of the cinerous- coloured Thamnotrizon that chirps hidden in the ivy of an English hedge-bank, and which during the
prevalence of the opal mist that dims the morning sun, is often out sunning in companies, will at once recognize the kettledrum wings set awry, which have conferred on these clowns the nickname of the cymbal players. But come, now, one is silent and the other is posed like an oil-beetle and executing a solo. The notes they clash and they tinkle as it were the bound of a tambourine, and their refrain is ever sweep-sweep or sweet-sweet, just as the air pulsates, and the sentiment prompts; one would think that the grape-gatherer who is reposing beneath the vine-leaves must have fairly mistaken this charming overture for the drawing of wine-corks and a.rain of coin gilt with the yellow leaves. By referring to the racy scores that Yersin noted down on the solitude of his Alpine crags, it will be noticed that he assigns to these musical orthoptera an idea of number and pitch, but although this brilliant music fairly moves at the rate of a beat every two seconds, it becomes quite an open question whether the performers distinguish between asix and an eight. . Apart from their marionettes they seem decidediy to be what our servant-girls would call sillies, for they are always ready to walk with a mincing and dainty pace on to the extremity of your walking-stick or umbrella. In regard to our programme, we find it further stated that Madam Ephippiger will perform a duet with the object of her choice among the gently waving vine-leaves, but for all that she is sitting on there in saucy silence, like a crocodile, and now one of her admirers—would you believe it ?—has actually jumped down and bestowed on hey a kiss or a bite; but Madam, after producing a squeal in imitation of that of a vindicative weasel, she has waddled off as if insulted. One would say that she was one of those who can sing and wont sing.
But do you not see, are youblind? Hist! now hist ! this saddle-backed creature who is disguised in marine green, is evidently the great gun of our performance. See how dignified he holds himself aloof, embowered among the interlacing thorns, and only notice that strange rosy glow that overshadows his flattened winglets of bronze and ebon black. Hark as he spreads them: like a cherub, and draws with his fiddle-bow that long, powerful and steamy note, that appears to strain in the execution like a cord that is about tosnap. Hist! oh hist! Surely he must have been the apt pupil of Apollo’s darling, the cicada, if a comb can be said to twang like crinoline hoops. It would seem, as he leisurely climbs to the topmost twig, that you might hear him sound his old and mellow violin fifty yards away in a fog. The Ephippigers welcome their champion, and their tambourines they dash around, and then far remote, from the tops of the pollard oaks there echoes back that Hist ! oh hist! Indeed the notes of Locusta were quite overpowering at the outset, as it were the whistling gush of a waterfall after the downpour, but those of this new hunchback resemble most the
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. ‘ 7
measured purl of the bubbles on the deep and strong current. Do they not inspire an absolute terror now, that would alarm the guilty conscience on a lonely heath more than the churr of the fern owl and the rattling and puffing of a thousand snakes? Fill up the cup with red wine and white wine, for he is a merry prophet of a clearing shower, and old Hesiod believed that such majestic notes, when presided over by the dog-star, betokened a heavy crop of figs and a cheerful vintage. Let us drink success to the year, and no longer carp and cavil concerning the phylloxera, the hail, and the driving cyclones. Does the new wine inspire: a moody sadness, the flowers are sparse upon the meadows, the chestnuts are scattering their husks, and this requiem of the summer must indeed conclude with the literal death of the performers. ‘‘ Czesar,” they seem to shout, ‘‘ we die.” It would be quite useless under such absolutely trying circumstances to cry Bravo, but if you seize a hair-comb and sweep along it your finger-nail, the chief musician will be sure to understand, for this strange being is so quick of hearing.
But why this dull and leaden silence? The sports, you see, aredone, for the sun is sinking low, and a sudden storm of dust and rain drives hitherward, deadly, damp and cold. It will shake the pears from off the bough, and quench, oh horrors, the last sparkles of summer merriment. But what the deuce can the matter be with Madam Locusta, the star of our troop, who now dances out of the foliage for an ovation, so sleek and so plump? You would be inclined to say that she had eaten her Signor from sheer vexation or because he was by nature so very green. :
Madam, who is more unassuming than a sheep, and yet more cruel by far than a tiger, will now improvise our epilogue, which runs as follows. In happy ignorance, you mortals have too long con- cluded that your vices were your own and that innocence was to be learnt of us, the humbler works of the creation, for man, conscious of his manifold imperfection, has been ever ready to assume that perfection, exists in everything around him. It is not then surprising that we leaf-crickets, who can claw and can bite, have by your popular writers been confused with the harmless cicadz, for this mistake might have originated in the occasional similarity of our croaking, which is yet readily distinguishahle in its staccato notes; but when, as sometimes happens, you behold a portrait of myself, who indeed possess no violin, but have all the feminine weakness exemplified in a long ovipositor, presented to the public gaze as that of the beloved one whose food is ambrosia ; we players can but ridicule the artist who has never witnessed our rural play of All for love, which is enacted every year during the prevalence of the Martinmas summer.
It may interest the naturalist to observe that Walckenzer—who, in his ‘* Faune Parisienne,” alludes
to the coupling of gnats, dragon-flies, ephemere and scolopendras, as likewise to that of spiders, cyclops, crustaceze and hydrachnee, and who‘has so graphically described the female flea reposing on the breast of her partner, her mouth applied to his mouth, and her feet intertwined with his—makes indeed no mention of the equally fantastic coupling of the subjects of this article. “It is droll, to say the least, since, owing to the presence of the afore-mentioned long oviposi- tor, Nature has ordained that the female should have the uppermost ; and as a consequence the happy possessor of her who has inspired his lays, is either hoisted into the air like a leg of mutton or ignomini- ously dragged along on his back. It may be likewise added that those few species of leaf-cricket which inhabit Europe are easily kept in cages or boxes covered with green gauze, since whatever may be their habits when rambling at will over the hedgerows, they, or at least their ladies, appear quite content to dine, when in confinement, on a leaf of lettuce or blade of grass, as the case may be.
A word in recapitulation, That two things should be alike and yet not alike is not mathematical, but it is the case in point with Zphippiger vitium and selligere. We notice a saddle-shaped thorax. The notes of the male are heard every two seconds, and the female, when in the proximity of her male, squeals like a mouse or weasel; but although the notes of either move with like rapidity, those of se//gere are a sound of winding up, lasting for about two seconds, whereas those of w¢ia7 are momentary and dashing. Although formed alike, wztzm is cast in the more delicate mould, and perhaps, we might add, the most specialized. Their sense of hearing is most strange ; I once heard one of these creatures respond to the laugh of a saucy girl who was passing.
THE SIROCCO AS A DISINTEGRATING AGENT, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS EFFECT ON THE STRATA OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS.
By Joun H. Cooke, B.Sc., F.G.S.
IND as an agent of denudation now takes its
place among the most potent of those forces
of Nature that are at present operating on the earth’s
crust, and assisting to modify the contour of its outline.
The extent of the work which it is capable of effecting, however, is not to be measured by the amount of violence or power that it exerts; for the most stupendous changes are often brought about by the instrumentality of the most insignificant causes, and what the hurricane with all of its might is powerless to effect, the zephyr, if it be but allowed a sufficiency of time, can do without appreciable effort.
Of the most unobtrusive, and at the same time the most effective of the numerous agents that are engagea
8 HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
in planing down and moulding the hills and valleys _of the islands and shores of the Mediterranean, the sirocco, a south-easterly wind that blows from the dry, arid regions of Africa is, perhaps the most remarkable. All of the districts situated within the Mediterranean are affected, more or less, by it. Its blighting influence on plant-life, and the depressing and debilitating effect that it has upon the human constitution, are but too well known to all ‘those whose misfortune it may have been to have had to spend the sultry days of a Mediterranean summer within the sphere of its influence. Organic and inorganic matter are equally affected by it, but while the effect of its attacks on the former make them- selves rapidly apparent, on the latter the processes that it employs in its work are slow though effective, and therefore the results to which they give rise are proportionately retarded. This is even more apparent in countries in the Mediterranean area which, like the Maltese Islands, have a comparatively small rainfall ; and where the catchment basins are restricted in size. In such districts a large proportion of the denuda- tion to which the surface contour of the district owes
CTH ey tan : = a We Seer
AE
rounded masses are the dun-coloured marls, the taluses of which often descend the slopes to distances that are double, and even treble the real thickness of the bed. These marl outcrops are a characteristic of Maltese hill scenery. They owe their origin to the percolation of water through the upper beds, whereby the marl is rendered sodden, and then, being more susceptible to the weight of the superincumbent rock than when dry, it is pressed from out the strata, and is precipitated down the hill-sides.
The bases of the hills, therefore, have a cloak of marl which effectually protects them from aerial waste, while the upper portions, being without this protec- tive influence, rapidly waste away before the humid winds, and thus the slopes of the valleys are seldom precipitous, and the isolated hills assume a distinctly conical form.
The hills and plateaux are thus shielded below by their own ruins, while the wasting away of the upper portions causes them to gradually assume the tapering shape with which the student of Maltese scenery is so familiar.
Unlike the Globigerina Limestone, the Upper
are TT te AES me
e— ———_- ———
Fig. 2.—Gozo Hills, from the Sea.
its diversified character, is to be attributed to the slow and intermittent, though powerful, agency of this wind.
It is along the escarpments of the hills and valleys, and in the cliff exposures that have a south-easterly aspect, that its powers of erosion are to be studied to the best advantage.
The flat-topped conical hills that form such a distinguishing feature in Malta and Gozitan scenery, owe their origin, in a great measure, to its influence. The Globigerina Limestone, the fourth bed from the top, formation forms the base of all of these hills, and on account of its homogeneity and softness of texture, it readily disintegrates before the rapid alternations of dryness and humidity that are the usual concomitants of the Sirocco.
This bed may be traced from the bottoms of all of the valleys inthe Binjemma and the Gozitan plateaux, falling back in long-drawn swellings and gentle undulations ; and covered with a rich and productive soil, in which the crimson sulla (clover), and the golden rye for which the islands are noted, grow luxuriantly.
Capping this bed, and still falling back in sofily
(N. side.)
Coralline rock is not equally susceptible to the in- fluences of this wind. But certain portions of the strata, situated in the middle of the formation, weather much faster than do the layers either above it or below it.
In the majority of cases this formation is found capping the hills of both islands, and forming table- lands, the sides of which are bounded by precipitous cliffs that attain a height which is dependent upon the local thickness of the formation. It also forms the surface deposits of several undulating plains, and it frequently occurs as shapelesss hummock-like These diversities of form are due in a measure to the unequal waste that the rock undergoes, as its mineralogical compositicn varies considerably, some parts of the strata being so hard as to be capable of withstanding the combined action of the atmosphere for centuries, while other portious readily disintegrate on exposure.
It is to this unequal action that the formation owes the craggy contour of its cliff outlines ; and it is this that causes it to offer such marked contrasts to the gentler undulations of the softer beds beneath. It is from this formation, too, that the rock boulders
masses.
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 9
that strew the slopes and beds of the valleys of the islands, are derived.
The action of the siroceo and the rain upon the sand-bed that serves as the foundations of the forma- tion, by gradually wearing it away, thus deprives the upper bed of its support, and causes the cliffs to break away in cyclopean masses, and to strew the slopes of the hills and valleys with their débris ; while other masses are detached and are tilted so perilously out of the perpendicular that they appear—
«© As if an infant’s touch could urge Its headlong passage down the verge.”
Such are a few of the effects that this powerful eroding agent is, in part, accountable for ; but it has been assisted in its work by other and equally powerful auxiliaries, without whose co-operation its efforts could not have been so effective. The main features of the country, the hills, valleys, and gorges haye had their direction and extent largely influenced
by the lay of the strata; while the minor ones, such as the honey-combed and fretted appearances presented by the cliff-faces and rock-surfaces, have been in- fluenced by the lithological characters of the rock. These are some of the assistants that have co-operated, add to which the heat and drought of summer, and the wet and cold of winter.
But effective as they are as helpers in the work of waste, no single one of them can be pointed to as being more potent, more active, more irresistible than the sirocco.
Both in Malta and in Gozo the principal valleys lay in a north-west and a south-east direction ; that is to say, they lie in a line with the direction of this wind.
Marsa Sirocco, an extensive bay on the east coast of Malta, so called because this wind blows directly into it, owes its origin and extent toits agency. It is the largest bay in the islands, and has four valleys abutting on its coast-line, each of which lies in the same direction. But it is not only in the general moulding of the country that the sirocco is concerned. its effects may be traced in every crag and cavern,
and on every rock, boulder, or other rock-surface. The irregular blocks of which the walls that serve as boundary-partitions between the fields, and the tooled stones of which the edifices in the towns and casals are built afford equally striking evidences of its powers of erosion ; and by their means both the rate and the amount of the denudation may be estimated. It is a noteworthy feature in the exteriors of Maltese walls and houses that the side that is exposed to the sirocco always presents a very eroded, time-worn and dilapidated appearance, whereas the other sides, in comparison, are fresh and unworn.
Tt is no uncommon occurrence to find the softer stones in the sides of the houses that have a south-east aspect, almost completely worn through, and sur- rounded by other blocks, the harder portions of which such as the fossil contents, echinoides, pectens, etc., stand out in bold relief from their worn and wasted matrices. In the old fortifications that were erected by the Knights of St. John, such phenomena as these
are of frequent !occurrence, and are very typical of sirocco denudation.
From a series of calculations that I have made of the rate of the erosion of the Globigerina limestone blocks in a number of buildings and fortifications of known ages, I estimate that the rate of sirocco denudation averages # of an inch per square foot per year ; that is about 16 cubic yards per acre per year ; or about 22 tons of material are annually wasted from every acre of surface.
In calculating this, numerous examples were taken, some being in proximity to the coast, while others were obtained from the centres of both islands. By so doing I believe I have obtained a fair average rate, for there can be no doubt, but that the rate of erosion is more rapid near the coast than it is inland. The moisture-ladened winds that sweep over the islands impregnate all that they come in contact with; and the Globigerina rock being very porous, is therefore highly susceptible to its influence, :
The duration of time during which the sirocco lasts is seldom long enough to enable it to do more than affect the surface, and then the period of
ue) HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP.
moisture is usually followed by conditions that are diametrically opposed to those that prevailed while the sirocco was blowing.
The frequent and rapid changes that the stone thus undergoes, causes an abnormal expansion and con- traction of the superficial molecules, and so tends to make the surfaces readily disintegrate and peel off in large flakes.
The work of erosion is greatly assisted also by the crystallization of the salt contained in the moisture that this wind takes up in its passage across the Mediterranean.
This moisture renders the stone surfaces highly saliferous. Under the influence of the heat of a semitropical sun, the moisture passes off, and the salt crystallizes and pushes out the superficial particles of the limestone, thus facilitating the paring down process which so rapidly wastes the rocks, and causes them to break up.
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS ON CHELONIA CAFA.
By H. Durrant.
HE following paper consists merely of extracts from my diary and notes made at the time of observation and experiment. I do not claim any great originality for them, as most of the experiments were made to prove statements made by more dis- tinguished workers than I, but still, perhaps they will be found interesting and probably new to some readers. The larva which I kept for observation was one of the commonest I could procure, both as regards itself and its food. The cages were made of fine gauze with glass fronts, which are easily and cheaply constructed, filled to the depth of about two inches with fine mould, in the middle of which was fixed a small glass, about four inches high, half-filled with water. Into this the branches of food-plants were put. For isolation I obtained some ordinary card- board starch-boxes, cut out an oblong hole from the lid and fixed on the under surface with ‘ Kay’s coaguline,” a quarter-plate negative glass (cleaned of course) ; a number of holes were then pricked in all over the box, for the free admittance of the vital principle, air.
On April 24th, I went out in quest of the cater- pillars of the tiger-moth (Avctia caja), and * after traversing several miles and getting splendidly nettled, I brought home about thirty, principally taken from the nettle (Zamzum album) and the dock. T also took several from a small patch of moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina), which was in flower at the time. I have never met with any lepidopterous larve on this plant before, nor do I remember having heard of anyone else finding larvz on it, but on this point I should like to hear other correspon- dents’ experiences. At first I thought I had several
different species, as in some the) hair was extremely short and in small tufts, but to make up for this short- coming, as it were, the spiracles were very visible. In others the hair was very long and of a silky ap- pearance, I placed them all together in a cage and left them with!some food, Next morning when I came to examine them, I found scarcely any with the short tussocks of hair and large spiracles, but the cast-off skins were plentifully strewed about the sides of the cage. Later in the day I saw several more change their skin. Just before changing it they invariably attached themselves to the side of the cage by a silken thread, and the empty skin would remain there after the larva had escaped and assumed its new coat. After they have done so they look wet and miserable, and their hair seems matted together as it would be if they had been dipped in water. But they soon dry |themselves, when |they appear very handsome in their silky coat. In about a week they had all been through the operation—painful it would seem—of changing their skin. During the earlier stages of their voracious life, and just before changing, they would scarcely eat anything, but when they reached what I {may term the long-hair stage, they ate ravenously, comfrew, nettle, dock, horse-raddish, Mentha rotundifolium, and in fact nearly anything 1 could supply them with. I fed them sometimes twice and three times a day, such was their insatiable appetite. Burmeister mentions the fact that beetles and their larvee never consume the leaf from the margin, like the caterpillars of Lepidoptera, but bite a hole in the centre, round which they feed, thus dis- tinguishing the destroyer merely by the appearance of the leaf. This certainly must be a fallacy. Lepidopterous larve not only feed from the edge of the leaf, but as often as not will commence in the middle, though generally irom beneath. This must be a common occurrence to those who have kept larvae in confinement. As to the beetles they certainly do feed from the middle of the leaf, but they are fre- quently to be seen feeding from the edge. Go out some summer evening with a lantern and examine the leaves of any common plant, and you will be able to verify this statement. So that the appearance of the leaves is in no way calculated to apprise the stu- dent of their respective invaders. Another item of im- portance is the following. Most entomologists agree that there are few lepidopterous larve, if any, which prey upon each other. But while I kept Chelonia I found that when a larva had just pupated, and while the external skin was soft and moist, the larvee would gather round it, bite pieces out of it, and apparently eat them, leaving afterwards a dry, deformed, shrivelled up shell. This occurred while the cage contained plenty of food, so that hunger cannot be thrust in as an excuse. Not only this larva, but a number of others which I have kept at various times, particularly the common turmip-moth, have exhibited the same propensities. If, however, the skin of the
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. Ir
pupa has hardened before it has been noticed, it remains perfectly safe. Here, I know some of my readers will say, ‘‘ How could they get at them when they are enclosed ina strong web?” But numbers of mine changed amongst their food on the floor, con- trary to their usual habit ; but ifa weak place appeared in those that did spin a web, it was quickly attacked by several of the larvze, and an inroad soon made. The following trait is also interesting, as bearing on their sense of smell. I found when I gathered fresh food for the larvee in the early part of the morn- ing, and placed it ian their compartment, that they flocked eagerly towards it, leaving their stale food, on which most of them were feeding before. But if I fed them later in the day, the majority of them stayed on the stale food, although the fresh food was re- peatedly placed in close proximity to them. It may be that the dew has something to do with this by drawing out the scent of the plants, especially as I fed them mostly on Mentha (principally rotundi- folium), horse-raddish, and comfrey.
Fuly 1st. The imagos appeared and I found that i had a number of very fine specimens. By mishap I allowed several to remain in the cage, which was put away in an old cupboard. Going to the cup- board, nearly five weeks after, I found that one was still alive, but the other four had succumbed—and remember, there had been no food in the cage during this period, nothing but the layer of soil on the bottom. How the one lived I cannot imagine. On the gauze at the top, I found ova had been deposited in a considerable quantity, and further—that they emerged in a few days after. The small larve were not undersized or weakly either, as one would expect from the treatment the imagos received, but were rather over the ordinary size at this period. I send Specimens to the Editor of the larve at one day old. The influence of light on their development I tested in the following way. I enclosed the young larvee with the food-plant in a dark box, with holes for the free admission of air, and storeditina ‘‘ dark room ” used for photography. They were kept well supplied with food. The development of each stage was con- siderably retarded, so that specimens in the;last stage (I cannot call them imagos) were not obtainable till the September following. Not one, however had its wings fully developed, some barely the eighth of an inch inlength. The longest was half an inch, and I believe, if growth had continued, the wings would have been entirely dark brown. Yor this experiment I selected strong, healthy-looking caterpillars, so that it is all the more conclusive as to the bad effects of darkness on their perfect development. The influ- ence of heat on the wing at the time of expansion is also, it would appear, decidedly bad, drying up the juices as fast as they can be formed, till the wing is made dry and brittle, and incapable of attaining its full size. I reared some over a hot mantel-shelf; few of these but whose wings did not present the
appearance of shrivelled deformity. The great strength in a few cases had endowed several for this struggle for existence, it is true, but they were cer- tainly not perfect specimens. Most Lepidoptera you will thus find emerge from their chrysalis in the cool of the evening, so as to escape the hot sun and dry air. Those I kept emerged about eight or nine in the evening or during the earliest hours of the morning. A red liquid, acid substance is found plentifully sprinkled about the cage after such emergences, and is used in softening the hard, dry case, so that it can easily be parted bythe moth, and a passage made when it wishes to appear. In one case only did the pupa case remain attached to the imago’s body ; it did not, however, survive, but died shortly after emergence.
THE HUMAN BLOOD-WORM (FYZLARIA SANGOINIS HOMINIS).
T has been suggested to me that I might bring together in a note the materials I have collected regarding the Filarize found in human blood ; and the more so as circumstances have admitted of my obtaining several living specimens of the parasite, from some of which my sketches have been made. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the subject ° has not been illustrated in SCIENCE-GOSSIP; my note may, therefore, serve to fill a vacant place.
In 1870 Dr. T. R. Lewis, formerly of Calcutta, and since deceased, found nematoid worms in chylous urine. In the beginning of 1872, whilst examining the blood of a native of India—a patient in the Calcutta Medical College Hospital—who was suffering from diarrhoea, Dr. Lewis observed no less than nine minute active worms on a single slide, and identified them with the Nematoids previously ob- tained by him in cases of chyluria. From this time onwards he paid considerable attention to the subject ; and he sent a slide containing some speci- mens of the worm to Professor Parkes, at Netley, who showed them to Mr. Busk. The name Ai/arze sanguinis hominis appears to have been then con- ferred on this organism. During the course of the two following years Dr. Lewis continued his investi- gations, with the result that he traced Filarize directly to the blood in ten, and detected them in various tissues and secretions in at least thirty cases; the parasites were always associated with chyluria, elephantiasis, or some closely allied pathological condition. In one case (of chyluria) the patient had been fa leper for fourteen years : several slides con- taining active Filarize were obtained from his fingers and toes.
Dr. Cooke in his instructive and popular little book on ‘‘ Ponds and Ditchesi” appears to suggest that Filarize are pathogenetically associated with leprosy, a view which scarcely derives support from
12 HARDWICKE’S SCLIENCE-GOSSIP.
Lewis’s investigations, who doubtless found them in a case of leprosy, but the patient was also suffering from chyluria. The Nematoids are admittedly closely telated to the latter disease; and seemingly only accidentally so to the former. Here we may note
that leprosy was known to the Greeks as elephan- tiasis, and to the Arabians as lepra; but that it differs from the lepra of the Greeks, and from the £. Arabum, or
elephantiasis of the Arabians.
lymph-scrotum, and chylous dropsy of, the peri- toneum and tunica vaginalis testis, than with leprosy. The presence of the Filarize, whether in the blood, the tissues, or the secretions, points to abnormalities in the?lymphatic system, the result of long-continued residence]! in*{tropical climates. They utilize the mosquito as an intermediate bast; and ‘in one of his papers on the subject, Lewis described the changes undergone byjthe Nematoid in the alimentary
Fig. 5.—c. Filaria, head and tai)
G Tey, 1600
of 6 more highly magnified.
Fig. 4.—a. Leucocytes (stained with roseine); one with three nuclei.
6, Filaria, with tail retracted in sheath.
o,
“at
Fig. 6.—d. Filaria, head and tail of another specimen ; both ends retracted.
Fig. 7.—e. Crenated red corpuscles associated with the Filarie de-
1600 lineated above.
Fig. 8.—/. Sarcoptes, moult obtained from same bloo:
N.B.—a and 4 were drawn under an } in. objective, and to one scale ; c, @and ¢ under a 7, in. and to another; /, was drawn under a 2 in. at 10 in,, and magnified 320 diameters.
Barbadoes leg, is a tropical disease prevalent in Arabia, Africa, and India, and causes the legs to swell to an enormous size, hence its name ; but its symptoms differ from those of leprosy. While, then, the evidence indicates that elephantiasis is closely associated with Filariz, leprosy seems to be related pathogenetically to the bacillus discovered by Hansen, LB. lepre. It may, therefore, be safer to associate the Filaria with chyluria, elephantiasis, soft tumi- faction of the inguinal glands, hematochyluria,
.
canal of that insect. Is it possible that the mosquite is instrumental in introducing the worm into the capillary system of men and other animals, whence it passes into the lymphatics, where it finds a lodg- ment? That it is not injured by the poison peculiar to the mosquito is proved by its passing alive and continuing its developmental changes in the body of the mosquito. It must also be remembered that Filariz have been found in diseased conditions of the human body alike in the East and West Indies,
HARDWICKE S SCIENCE-GOSSTIP. 13
in China, Africa, the Mauritius, Bermuda, Brazil, etc., all mosquito countries.*
The organism described in this note is a filiform, parasitic Nematoid, about 4 in. in length, and 54; in. in transverse diameter; it resembles the familiar Anguillulz found in stagnant water, damp moss, etc. It, however, differs from these in being en- closed in a hyaline sheath, in which the worm can be seen to elongate and contract itself. It is difficult to make out the internal organization of the Filariz, the alimentary canal is not distinctly traceable, and the contents are mainly granular with a marked conden- sation in parts. Dr. Lewis considered the Nematoid as he found it in man, to be an embryo, and his later investigations brought the adult form to light. The mouth-parts have puzzled me ; my sketches from two worms, both obtained alive, indicate differences of structure, or of- position; but the examination of other specimens has not cleared this up. The hyaline external sheath is often markedly apparent ; and in dead and stained specimens, the body is generally contracted in it at one or both ends: my drawings illustrate this feature. The person from whom I obtained my specimens suffers from general debility and hzmorrhoids, and occasionally from a mild form of eczema ; but in all other respects he can be said to be in fair general health. The mode of obtaining the worm from the blood is simple enough. The end of the finger is tied round with twine or pack-thread, and when slightly congested is lightly pricked with a sharp sterilized dissecting needle. The droplet of capillary blood thus secured is taken up on one or more clean coyer-glasses, and pressed out as thin as possible on a cleaned slide. A half-inch objective suffices as a finder; but a Zeiss D, or an Economic } in. is necessary for the detailed examination of the worms. These were the powers used by me; though my drawings were made under a student’s } in., and a Seibert’s ,{ in. w.i. In all cases the ‘illustrations have been drawn with the paper at a greater distance from the eye-glass than the normal teninches. This has been done merely to get larger figures and details. The Filariz con- tinue in active motion for many hours, As a stain roseine will be found to answer the double purpose of killing the worm, and also of staining it. In blood from the same person I have twice, on separate occasions, found what I took to be the moult of one of the Sarcoptes. There was no itch present, and it was denied that there was any previous history of the complaint. Are these Sarcoptes to be regarded as
* The Filariz come to the surface of the skin between five and six o’clock in the evening, and seyen or eight o’clock in the morning, so that they are handy for mosquitoes during the hours when those inSects are most numerous. The worms retreat into the tissues during the day. Though eyeless, they seem to possess a /ight-sense, and to avoid light. What effect would the long Polar day have on these parasites, in which periodicity is such a marked characteristic? Would it puzzle them out of existence ?—W. J. S.
pathogenic to the form of eczema which does occa- sionally trouble the patient ?
The prevalence of the latter disease at times in Bengal, leads one to enquire if some skin complaints distinguishable from itch, and termed eczema, may not be contagious, and caused by a parasite ?
Numerous red blood corpuscles in the case I have in view are crenated, a few curious abnormal forms being delineated in my drawings ; but for this feature the Filarize may not be responsible.
Dr. Lewis’s investigations led to his examining other animals, with the result that he obtained allied Nematoids from the Indian pariah (or native street-) dog, and the Indian crow. More than one-third of the dogs he examined were thus affected, the Nematode in them being smaller than in the case of the human parasite; while the blood of one half the crows he examined also swarmed with Filariz, which were about one-third the length and one-half the width of the human parasite. In the Nematoids from both the crow and the dog there were no indications of an enveloping hyaline sheath; and in the canine © worm the internal structure was in his opinion slightly more advanced in respect to differentiation etc., than in the human worm. Lewis also examined mosquitoes, and was able to obtain a constant supply of these insects in a filarious condition from a room occupied by five servants, one of whom harboured Filariz in his blood. This man had been in the place for several years, and was not known to have suffered from any special disease. I have myself succeeded in finding filarious mosquitoes, but under circumstances which, as in the case of Dr. Lewis’s servant, readily explained their presence. He repeated the experiments of Dr. Manson of Amoy (China), and discovered that fourteen per cent. of the mosquitoes he caught at random had Filariz, which he considered a proof that in Bengal filarious blood cannot be very uncommon. As he points out, it is necessary in examining mosquitoes for these Nematoids to observe whether the blood in them is mammalian or avian. The following details are based on Lewis’s papers, and may be useful.
.
| | Length.| Habitat. Form. In. i eta. 5 ¢ (Sicadh|| 4. || Beads ¢ (ea ee Faicrsoe)| sone | a ({SEMETY) Di Tricbina . .| None | i | Muscle . |{Tead pointed,
A few sentences in conclusion with regard to the’ milder forms of Filariosis (the term applied by Lancereaux to the deceased condition caused by the Filariz), may be interesting and appropriate. Lancereaux, who has given a complete véswmé of the whole subject, considers the parasite enters the
system by the alimentary canal, and he recommends e
14 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
the use, as a prophylactic measure, of boiled and filtered water. Others hold that the parasite finds its way into the body through the skin of bathers. To what, if any, extent is the mosquito to be regarded as an infecting agent? In this connection, too, does food count as a factor? Both the pariah dog and crow are foul feeders; though it should be added that in our hot tropical climate, they are both bathers, and both drinkers of stagnant and other possibly contaminated water. Moreover nematoid helminths, as Lewis showed, have been found by other observers in the blood of the carp, hawk, jack- daw, jay, frog, seal, and whale. The dog seems, however, to take the first place, and has been observed to be thus affected in nearly all parts of the world, but notably so in China, India, and Southern Europe. Is the dog an infecting agent in this case; as he is believed to be in the case of tape-worm ?
It is satisfactory to be able to add that in man the prognosis is favourable, even though the disease be of some standing. Removal from the source of infection is said to result in a spontaneous cure. As remedies, inunctions of mercurial ointment, in con- nection with hydrotherapy, and the injection of certain parasiticides into the lymphatic ganglia, have been recommended. A writer in Ceylon considers that the administration of bisulphide of carbon gives satisfactory results, owing, in his opinion, to the sulphur ingredient, and its power to prevent the multiplication of the worm in the body.
On the other hand, Dr. Manson’s views with regard to the pathological significance of the Filariz, which receive support from the observations of Dr. Lewis and others, are opposed by Dr. Rake of Trinidad, who failed to find Nematoids in cases of elephantiasis and chyluria; and by Dr. Sibthorpe, who examined the blood of patients affected with hard elephantiasis, and did not meet with Filarie. The doctors evidently differ as to the pathogenetic value of the worm ; but its existence as a parasite in the blood of man has been proved, and it remains to be ascertained definitely, how it gains a footing in the body. Those who wish to prosecute the subject further will derive valuable aid from Dr. Lewis’s papers republished in Part IIL. of his ‘* Physiological and Pathological Researches” (1888), and also in Dr. Sajow’s ‘‘ Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences,” Issue of 1889, vol. i., F, page 13, and vol. v., A, page 145; and the various papers therein referred to. One cannot read up the subject without being impressed with the value for diagnostic purposes of a microscopical examination of the
blood. W. J. SIMMONS, Calcutta.
WE commend to the notice of our natural history book collectors, Messrs. Dulau’s Catalogue of Zoo- logical and Paleontological books, just issused.
SILLOTH IN AUGUST. By W. H. Youpate, F.R.M.S.
AVING read with great interest the two articles by the Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L.S., on Silloth in April and June, 1889, (SCIENCE-GossIP, vol. xxv. pages 125 and 156), I was led to imagine that some of your readers might be interested in knowing what can be found in that apparently for- saken-by-naturalists district in the month of August ; perhaps, also, these articles may be the means of inducing some other botanists and naturalists to take some interest in working up the flora and fauna of this seemingly neglected and barren neighbourhood.
It is needless to repeat the descriptions given by the Rev. H. Friend of the sand-dunes, general appearance, and situation of this charming little sea-port and watering-place combined ; therefore I will proceed to describe and enumerate the chief objects. of interest to be found there, or likely to be found there, during the month.
My visit commenced on the 11th and ended on the 24th; one or two days were very stormy, and rain fell on most days—only two, I believe, were exempt—so that, on the whole, the weather was most unpropitious for insect-life, and I cannot in consequence add anything worth recording to what has already been given in the articles above referred to.
The plant-life, however, was a pleasant surprise, as many as I16 varieties being found by my wife and myself—sixty-one of which are not to be found in the neighbourhood of my residence on the border of the Lakes District. Some of the chief finds were, Aster tripolium, (found near Skinburness), Convolvzlus sepium, C. arvensis, Brassica monensis, Silene mart- tima, Gnaphalium minimum, G. uliginosum, Rumex crispus, Eryngium marilimum, Galium mollugo, Chenopodium ficifolium, Medicago lupulina, Arte- misea vulgaris, Atriplex angustifolia, Viola curtisiz, V. canina. Behind the sheds built near the docks I found a solitary specimen of wild chicory (Cichorium intybus), two or three specimens of Lchium planta- gineum, and large numbers of Eckium vulgare. A fine Ranunculus hirsutus was considered a ‘‘ good find,” on account of its rarity in the district. The round- leaved mallow (Alalva rotundifolia) is here in great plenty, as is also Yasione montana and the beautiful hare’s-foot trefoil, (Z7ifolium arvense).
A walk to Skinburness proved most interesting, and resulted in finding Geranium sanguineum in full bloom and great profusion, the Burnet rose (osa spinosissima) and its curious irregular red galls, caused by Rhodites spinosissima, were most entertaining, a single specimen of corn marigold:(C. segetum), and the following in plenty: Sedum anglicum, Spergula arvensis, Armeria maritima, Cakile maritima, Are- naria peploides (on the sands), Sagina maritima,
HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTIP. 15
fersicaria lapathifolium, Erodium cicutarium, and Geranium dissectum.
A walk in the direction of Allonby, past the “‘ Con- valescent,” added these to the list: Calamintha officinalis, Lamium album, Polygonium rayii, Stachys palustris, Plantago coronopus, P. maritima, Senecio aquaticus, Ononis procurrens, O. spinosa, Crithmum maritimum, Salsola kali, Tanacetum vulgare, and Anthyllis vulneraria.
Taking a journey from Silloth to Bowness-on- Solway proved most delightful and added some grand finds, amongst which was 7y/ha /atifolia, growing in water near a brickfield by the railway side at Kirk- bride. On reaching Solway Moss, Hirsutum vagi- natum, Hieraceum paludosum, Nasturtium terrestre, and Efocharis palustris were observed. Both sides of the railway were lined with Z7/obium angustifolium, which grows to the height of six feet and upwards, looking very lovely when passing it in the train. I was told by a “‘native” that it rejoiced in the local name of ‘* Blooming Sally,” and at Silloth is known as ‘French Willy” (an evident corruption of “* Willow”). The thyme-leaved speedwell, Veronica serpyllijolia is perhaps the greatest gem to be found at Bowness. I also found by the railway-side Vicia hirsutum, Dianthus plumarius, and Sedum telephium ; the last two have probably been planted and allowed to become wild, or perhaps seeds may have been blown by the wind from some garden not far away.
To return to the Silloth flora, the plants met with in greatest number are Bartsia odontitis (very large specimens), Matricaria inodora, Euphrasia officinalis, Lamium purpureun, Senecio vulgaris, S. Facobea, Flantago major, P. media, Thymus serpyllum, Trifolium pratense, T. repens, Campanula rotundifolia, Capsella bursa-pastoris, Hypericum perforatum, Mysotis palus- tris, Bellis perennis, Veronica beccabunga, Vicia sativa, Papaver dubium, Ranunculus acris, Galium verum, Potentilla anserina, P. reptans, Arctium lappa, Cytisus scoparius, Ulex europeus, Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea, LE. tetralix, Taraxacum dans-leonis, Lotus corniculatus, Cerastium vulgatum, Tussilago farfara, Achillea millefolium, and the in- evitable Sisymbrium officinale (hedge-mustard).
The two most observable peculiarities of the Silloth flora are, first, the very large preponderance of blue flowers, such as hare-bells, viper’s bugloss, sheep’s scabious, vetches, speedwells, and violets, growing in such large numbers as to make quite a blue carpet ; second, the way in which each variety of flower seems to appropriate a little piece of ground to itself, to the exclusion of all others, so that a plant may be in great profusion at one place and yet not be met with again within a distance of two miles.
The seaweeds are of the very commonest descrip- tion. All I found were Fucus canaliculatus, F. vesiculosus, F. nodosus, and its usual parasitic Poly- siphonia fastigiata, Melobesia polymorpha, Griffithsia corallina, Ulva latissima, and Enteromorpha com-
pressa. I also found the zoophyte Plustra chartacea, but not in abundance. ¥
The best finds among the Diatoms were LVeuro- Navicula crassinervis, Surirella gemma, Nitzschia sigma, and JV. valida, all on or near the pier.
A word in conclusion about the grasses; the three principal ones are Carex arenaria, Triticum junceum, and tmmophila arundinacea, protected by Act of Parliament, first in Scotland, and then in England also. Heavy fines and penalties were imposed on anyone gathering the spikes or leaves of the plant, or having any part of it in their possession. These laws have not been repealed, but they have long fallen into disuse, for now various articles for domestic purposes are made from the stems of this plant, every stem thus used is a direct infringement of the law.
sigma @stuarit,
NOTES ON THE GENUS DISTYLA, CLASS ROTIFERA.
OME time ago (September 1890), I contributed
an article to SCIENCE-GossIP with the above
title. In that paper I described two new species of Cathypne, which, when fully extended, had so many of the characters of the genus Distyla, as drawn by Mr. Gosse, that it gave rise to a suspicion which I stated in the following words: ‘‘It is of course possible that Distyla may be a good genus, but I think it is at least probable, that sovze, if not all, the species of that genus have been described from extended Rotifera of the genus Cathypna.” At that time, although I was familiar with several species of the latter genus, I had never seen any of the recorded species of Distyla, and my notes were written in the hope ‘‘that those microscopists who have the opportunity will take up the investigation of the subject ; and, whether the result be to confirm the genus, or my suspicions as to its non-existence, my purpose in writing these notes will haye been accomplished.” In your September number, 1891, Mr. D. Bryce has a courteous criticism of my article, to which I should have replied earlier but for a press of other work. There are so many points upon which Mr. Bryce and myself are agreed that I only propose touching lightly upon one or two, in which there is a difference of opinion, Iam glad that Mr. Bryce ‘‘is inclined to deny credence to the remarkable position” of the supposed ‘‘ inability of the species of Distyla to withdraw its head between the plates of the lorica,” because I expressed equal incredulity. At the same time, I think I was justified in concluding that Mr. Gosse by the phrase ‘‘habitual protusion of the head,” intended to convey the idea that in Distyla the corona was never retracted. I was confirmed in this interpretation, unaccountable as it appeared, by Mr. Gosse’s known precision in the use of language ; by referring to his figures, where a@// the six species
16 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
are drawn with the ‘‘head” protruded ; and by the significant remark of Ehrenberg, that his D. Horne- manit was ‘‘capable of retraction,” showing to my roind that he also understood that the other species of the genus were zwcapad/e of retracting the head. I quite think that under such confirmatory coinci- dences I was justified in my assumption. I am now quite convinced, both from Mr. Bryce’s experience of the genus, and my own subsequent acquaintance with it, that Mr. Gosse could only use the phrase in the sense indicated by Mr. Bryce. With reference to my omission of the word ‘‘ lengthened” in my quotation, it was, as he suggests, quite unintentional, and I cannot understand how it occurred, as I find it in my original paper. ‘There is one point in which I am sorry to have to differ from Mr. Bryce, but I am still of opinion that my two new species are Cathy- pnze ; the lorica being “‘sub-circular,” or as he puts it, ‘‘ ovate,” and not of the form of a ‘‘ long ellipse.” Another critic of my paper has to some extent mis- understood my point, and most certainly misjudged the spirit in which my notes were written, and as he is quoted by Mr. Bryce, I reply to his chief criticism here. In the first place, he makes the statement that, ‘The distinction (between the two genera) is plain enough.” Now while I readily admit that typical species of any of the genera, may easily be distinguished from typical species of even closely allied genera, yet with those species near the border- line it is frequently ‘‘ not plain” on which side they ought to be placed. In this very genus, the only new species Mr. Gosse admitted into the body of the work was D. /lexilis, and of this.he says in one place, ‘*I add doubtfully” and in another, ‘‘I am not by any means sure that this is entitled to specific rank ; nor, if so, whether it ought to be placed in the genus Distyla.” My critic then points out the distinctions between the two genera in the words quoted in SCIENCE-Gossip by Mr. Bryce. ‘‘In Cathypna the whole trunk is loricated, but in Distyla only the hinder-portion of the trunk is loricated, the fore part having a membranous covering.” It is a very strange circumstance that in no place does Mr. Gosse mention such a distinction, never even hints at it; and if my critic means anything more than that Distyla can exert rather more of its frontal part than most loricated Rotifera, then his distinction is not a fact. Mr. Gosse does say that the lorica is ‘‘mem- branous before,” but he figures it as having a well- defined anterior margin, and it will be noted, he designates the whole of this ‘‘the lorica.” However, through the kindness of Mr. Bryce and another valued London correspondent, I have had the pleasure of studying two undoubted species of Distyla, both, however, new forms, and I am per- fectly satisfied that the genus is a good one. These two species were very characteristic, and no mi- croscopist who had any experience in this class of animals could fora moment have mistaken them for
Cathypna. They had the “‘ lengthened and flattened form,” and the activity so unusual with other Rotifera of the family Cathypnadz. The chief and most obvious distinction, however, is the form of the lorica, which in Distyla is a long oval. In con- clusion, while candidly admitting that I was wrong in my supposition, I think that my previous notes are of value, as showing that there are some species of Cathypna which, when fully extended, so strongly resemble Distyla, when fully extended, that great caution is necessary in assigning them their place, and before doing so they ought to be studied in both conditions. J. E. Lorp. Rawtenstall,
OBSERVATIONS ON PHAZLUS IMPUDICUS.
HIS fungus, Phallus impudicus, the stinking morell, or stink-horn (Fig. 9), may usually be found amongst the roots of chopped-down trees
Fig. 9.—Phallus impudicus.
and shrubs, especially the beech and hornbeam, in damp, shady woods and copses ; less frequently I have
HARDWICKE' S SCITENCE-GOSSTP.
17
found them on shady and grassy banks, on heaths in thei vicinity : they are very abundant in some woods, for instance in Bury Woods, Epping Forest, they may
Fig. 10.—Phallus impudicus before the bursting of the peridium.
Fig. 11.—Phallus impudicus (Section).
be found growing in clusters under the hornbeams ; and also in several other woods near London. They first appear asan oblong, whitish, transparent |
ball (Fig. 10), which will soon burst; from out of this gelatinous covering (volva) rises the tubular column, which has a spongy texture of a milk-white colour; on the apex of this column or stipe is the common receptacle or pileus, at the summit of which is a small white bordered pore, marking the conju- gation with, and opening into the column. At first the sporiferous head is green, without any traces of the laminz, but when ripe the spores escape in a yellowish-brown mucus, leaving the common re- ceptacle and laminz quite clean. It has a very strong fetid smell, especially when the peridium bursts and the column expands, by this smell it may often be found.
They are most abundant about July and August, growing in clusters of threes and fours, which are generally from six to eight inches high, and smelling very intense ; however, later in the season (October), the individual specimens are fewer and much larger, often nine and ten inches high, with a very slight smell. I think this must be due to the weather being more favourable to the growth of fungi.
The following is an account of a very large speci- men which I found in October this year, growing on the borders of a wood at Highgate :—height thirteen inches, pileus three and a half inches long, column two inches in diameter, and volva four inches long and half an inch thick.
Henry E. GRiseEt.
SOME FAMOUS COLLECTING-GROUNDS FOR DRAGON-FLIES.
By the Author of ‘An Illustrated Handbook of British Dragon-flies,” “A Label List of British Dragon-flies,” etc., etc.
I. THE NEW FOREST AND NEIGHBOURHOOD.
HE New Forest, in Hampshire, is probably the “happy hunting-ground ” most-frequently pa- tronised by entomologists in the British Islands. From the earliest dawn of entomological history this district has been regarded as the principal store-house of insect-life in this country, whose boundless expanse it is the desire of every enthusiastic entomologist to explore. It constitutes the headquarters of all the ‘* brethren of the net,” and, as in times of yore, it still continues to yield its multitudinous winged treasures to the patient and persevering student.
Nowhere else in the United Kingdom is such a veritable paradise for dragon-flies to be found as in the New Forest, and everywhere through its vast length and breadth we may hope to meet with these gorgeous gems, provided only that we pay it a visit in the proper season.
The neighbourhood of Brockenhurst, which is in the very centre of the Forest, and exceedingly convenient to reach from either Southampton or
18 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
Bournemouth, is a very good collecting-ground for these majestic creatures; it abounds in ponds and clay-pits, some of which are situated on the common, others in the surrounding woods, while there are several first-class streams and brooks in the immediate district, all of which teem with dragon-flies.
The neighbourhood of Lymington, Ringwood, and Lyndhurst also, are famous habitats for many kinds, while several species swarm on the reedy river at Beaulieu, between which village and Lymington there is a very large pool called Sowley Pond, which may also be visited with very successful results.
The following species of dragon-flies have been known to occur within the boundaries of the New Forest, namely, Platetrum depressum (very common), Lepletrum quadrimaculata, (very abundant), also its beautiful austral variety Arenubila (which is very common as well), Lzbellula fulva (very rare and local), Orthetrum caerulescens (plentiful), Sympetrum vulgatum (exceedingly abundant, occurring in thou- sands in certain seasons), S. sanguineum, Cordulia @nea, (not uncommon, principally found in the neighbourhood of Brockenhurst and Beaulieu), Oxygastra Curtisii (occurs at Brockenhurst, but is rare) Gomphus vuleatissimus (not uncommon in the vicinity of Brockenhurst), Cordulegaster annulatus (very plentiful on most of the rivers and brooks), Anaso formosus (rare), Brachytron pratense (local), “Eschna cyanea (abundant everywhere), 2. grandis (not uncommon), 2. vufescens (very rare), Calopteryx virgo (exceedingly abundant on all the rivers and streams), C. splendens (ditto), Lestes viridis (a single specimen only of this pretty insect has been taken in the New Forest, which, however, was many years ago, and formerly adorned the famous private collection of Mr. Evans, the well-known entomo- logist ; this species has been captured nowhere else in this country), Z. xympha (rare), L. sponsa (common, but local), Z. wivens (only two specimens of this species have hitherto been taken in this country, both in the New Forest ; they were formerly included in the rich cabinet of Mr. J. F. Stephens, the celebrated author), Platycnemis pennipes (local), Enallagma cyastrigerium (common), Agrion mer- curiale (common, but very local; it is only known to occur in one other locality in this country, namely, at Epping Forest, in Essex). A. pu/chellum (common), A. puella (exceedingly abundant everywhere), /schnw7a pumiiio (very rare and local), 7, elegans (very common everywhere), Py7rhosoma minium (exceedingly abun- dant everywhere), and P. ¢eve//um (local and rare).
The neighbourhood of Christchurch is a very good one for dragon-flies, particularly on the river Avon and the river Soar, both of which abound with reeds and rushes. Heron Court, not far from hence, is the headquarters of that very rare and local species Oxygastra Curtisit, which is only found in two or three other localities in this country, namely, in the adjacent counties of Dorset and Devon (in addition
to the New Forest, as previously mentioned). It has been captured near Heron Court on several occasions, but is always rare.
Parley Heath and Heron Common, about five miles from Christchurch, situated between the rivers Avon and Stour constitute two of the best collecting- grounds for dragon-flies in the country. They both contain a great number of ponds and clay-pits, and abound in damp spots filled with reeds and other marsh-loying plants. Here one may meet with almost as many kinds of dragon-flies as in the New Forest itself, while certain species occur in even greater numbers than in the wooded area. The very local Libellula fulva, which is rare in the New Forest, occurs not uncommonly on Parley Heath, but it is a very difficult species to procure, as it has the habit of keeping nearly the whole of its time out of reach, in the centre of the ponds it is pleased to frequent, and only 'by means of a very long net may we hope to secure it. For this purpose a bamboo fishing-rod with telescopic joints, having the topmost joint removed (as described in my ‘Illustrated Hand- book of British Dragon-flies”) would constitute the most convenient kind of handle. The beautiful variety of Libellula fulva, namely fasciata, which possesses the apices of the wings brown, also occurs in this de- lightful district, from whence I have two very fine female specimens in my collection.
The very rare and local Jschnura pumilis has been taken on Parley Heath as well as, by myself, at Bourne- mouth, five miles distant on the sea coast. The latter locality also is a very good one for dragon- flies, particularly round the ponds on Canford Heath, at the back of the town. This pretty common, how- ever, is unfortunately being rapidly encroached upon for building purposes, and the habitat of many good species will consequently be destroyed in a few years hence. The local Zes¢es sponsa occurs very plentifully at Bournemouth, which town, by the bye, is a very convenient place to stop at, as all the localities men- tioned above may easily be reached from it by either rail or road.
SCIENCE=GOSSIP:
A most valuable paper for marine zoologists appeared in the December number of the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural History,” entitled “ Natural History Notes, from H.M. Indian Marine Survey steamer Jnvestigator, Commander R. F. Hoskyn. Series II., No. 1, ‘On the Results of Deep Sea Dredging during the Season 1890-91,’ by J. Wood- Mason, Superintendent of the Indian Museum, etc., and A, Alcock, Surgeon I.M.S., Surgeon-Naturalist to the Survey.”
WE are glad to welcome another of Mr. Dugald Bell’s capital and original papers on glacial geology.
HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSTP. 19
The latest issued is entitled “The Great Winter: a Chapter in Geology,” and was read before the Philosophical Society of Glasgow.
WE gladly welcome the first part of the ‘‘ Journal of the Institute of Jamaica,” doubtless edited by the newly-appointed 'secretary (an old correspondent of ScreENcE-Gossip). Mr. T. D. Cockerell. He has not been long in’getting into harness, for this number contains two original papers by him.
THE rights for the patent of Larranga’s Photo- Phonograph have been abandoned by the inventor, who “‘gives them to the world.” A pamphlet on this subject has been issued by Dr. J. Maier (London : Whitehead, Morris & Co., Fenchurch Street).
THE Norwich ‘‘ Science Gossip ” Club was founded by the present editor of the magazine two years before he became editor. It has endured ever since, and is now oneZof-the strongest and healthiest of popular science clubs in England. Their present ** Report” will} give -people a good idea of this typical social and scientific club, inasmuch as it contains capital abstracts of the papers read during the past year.
WE would draw the attention of our microscopical readers to Mr. Hesketh Walker's interesting catalogue of “ Microscopic Sundries,”/and Specialities Labora- tory, 12 Church St., Liverpool.
THE -sixth number of the “ Mediterranean Naturalist” (edited by Mr. J. H. Cooke) has reached us. This periodical isa real gain to natural science, as it correctly collects for us the geology, zoology, and botany of the coasts of the most interesting and{most historic sea in the world.
THE Institute of Marine Engineers held a very successful conversazione in the Town Hall, on December 11th. A capital programme was issued, and one sent to us; but we would suggest that another time a better?\correlation of gold lettering with a different colour tone is required from a scientific society, so that people may be better able to read the programme.
WE have received from Mr. F. L. Dames, natural history and scientific bookseller, 47 Tauben Strasse, Berlin, a series of his catalogues, comprising pamphlets, books, etc., on every department of natural history, botany, zoology, geology, palxon- tology, mineralogy, chemistry, physics, etc. The latest issued includes 350 works on diatoms and desmids, and 250 on algology and microscopy alone.
WE cordially welcome M. Tempére’s 7th, or December part of ‘‘Le Diatomiste.” This will prove the best work of its kind yet issued. The illustrations are of an unusually high-class character (London : Bailliére & Co.).
We are glad to draw attention to Mr. F. V. Theobald’s Part II., ‘‘ Account of British Flies” (London: Elliot Stock). This will prove a most useful book for intending students of British Diptera.
A FUND is very properly being raised under the auspices of the Royal Microscopical Society, for the benefit of the widow and nine children left by the late Mr. John Mayall jun., the active, well-known, and highly esteemed secretary of the Society. Scientific men work frequently for anything but money, and this is an instance where our wealthier scientific brethren have the opportunity of being helpful.
Dr. A. IRvING read an interesting and very sug- gestive paper at the early December Meeting of the Geologists’ Association, on ‘‘ Organic matter as a Geological Agent.”
THE ‘‘Geological Photographs” Committee ap- pointed by the British Association in 1889, have issued another Report, in which they state that as yet not one half of the British counties are represented in the collection. Here is a good and useful opening for our increasing army of amateur photographers.
Our Geological readers should procure Dr. Charles Ricketts’ paper (Presidential Address to the Liverpool Geological Society) on ‘‘Some Phenomena which occurred during the Glacial Epoch.” No English geologist is better posted in our British glacial geology than Dr. Ricketts.
WE commend to all those interested in the subject of Technical Education (and suggest they should procure it), the Syllabus of the Nicholson Institute, Leek, Staffordshire. It is the best programme of good work we have seen published.
Mr. EpwarD WILSON, the well-known and able curator of the Bristol Museum, recently published in the ‘‘ Geological Magazine,” a paper ‘‘ Ona Specimen of Waldheimia perforata, showing Original Colour- marking.” This interesting specimen was discovered by Mr. J. W. Marshall, of Bristol, an enthusiastic collector of Jurassic Brachiopoda. We have fre- quently found near Castleton, Derbyshire, specimens of Zerebratula hastata, retaining their original colour- bands.
A CAPITAL and most useful dvochure has just been written by Mr. Edward Whimper, and published by John Murray, on ‘‘ How to use the Aneroid Baro- meter.”
THE last issue of the Guernsey Society of Natural Science and Local Research is a capital number. It contains papers on ‘‘ The Correlation and Relative Ages of the Rocks of the Channel Islands,” by Mr. C. G. De la Mare; an account of ‘‘A Dredging Excursion off Guernsey” (we should like above all
20 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSIP.
things to have been in it), by Mr. R. L. Spencer ; ‘Notable Oral Equipments in Vertebrata,” by Mr. Fred Rose; ‘‘ The Sea Urchin,” by Mr. W. Sharp ; “Instinct, Reason, and Reflex Action,” by the same ; “*The Flora of Jethon,” by Mr. G. T. Derrick ; “Submarine Breathing Animals,” by Mr. J. Sinel; etc.
AN adaptation of the telephone to existing telegraph lines has recently been successfully completed between Grangemouth and Glasgow by Mr. A. Erskine Muir- head. The telephones used are the French type, with microphones. The line has two intermediate stations, one at Port Dundas and the other at Kirkin- tilloch, but this in no way impaired the speaking. It is proposed to add two other intermediate stations, making six telephones served by a single line. Though the telegraph instruments were employed simultaneously, there was no interruption, and it is intended that the telegraph instruments shall be discarded. Another feature of the adaptation is that as the wire runs along the canal, the barger can fix a portable telephone on it at any place, and speak to the termini.
WE are pleased to see that a Fourth Edition of Mr. Worsley-Benison’s ‘‘ Nature’s Fairy-Land” is required, and was issued last week by Messrs. Elliot Stock.
THE following are the lecture arrangements made by the Royal Institution before Easter :—Professor John G. McKendrick, six Christmas lectures to juveniles, on ‘‘Life in Motion; or, the Animal Machine ;” Professor Victor Horsley, ‘‘ Twelve Lectures on the Structure and Functions of the Nervous System (the Brain) ;” Mr. A. S. Murray, ““Three Lectures on Some Aspects of Greek Sculp- ture in Relief ;” Professor E. Ray Lankester, ‘* Three Lectures on Some Recent Biological Discoveries ;” Professor W. P. Ker, three lectures on ‘‘ The Pro- gress of Romance in the Middle Ages;” Dr. B. Arthur Whitelegge, three lectures on ‘‘ Epidemic Waves ;” Professor J. A. Fleming, three lectures on “*The Induction Coil and Transformer ;” the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, six lectures on ‘‘ Matter: at Rest and in Motion ;” Professor J. F. Bridge, three lectures on ‘‘ Dramatic Music, from Shakspeare to Dryden (the Play, the Masque, and the Opera),” with illustrations. The Friday evening meetings will begin on January 22nd, when a discourse will be given by the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh on ‘‘ The Composition of Water.” Succeeding discourses will probably be given by Sir George Douglas, Bart., Professor Roberts-Austen, C.B., Mr. G. J. Symons, Professor Percy F. Frankland, Sir David Salomons, Bart., Professor L. C. Miall, Professor Oliver Lodge, Mr. George Du Maurier, Mr. John Evans, Mr. F. T. Piggott, Professor W. E. Ayrton, and other gentle- men.
MICROSCOPY.
CLEANING SLIpEs.—Canada balsam may be cleaned from slides by moistening a rag with spirits of turpentine ; if the balsam is very hard, it may be just warmed over the spirit-lamp. I find this the best way, being very quick.—H. £. Griset.
MOouNTING BUTTERFLIES’ PROBOSCES.—Will any of your readers kindly tell me the best way to mount a butterfly’s probocis? I have tried a good many in Canada balsam, but the two halves always become separated. Is it usual to mount only the one half, or is there some way of mounting it whole, without the. two halves separating ?>—R. HZ, Vapp.
MALES OF CLADOCERA.—During the months of September, October, and November last, the com- paratively rare males of the Entomostracan order Cladocera seemed to be fairly abundant in the soutk Epping Forest district. Males of fourteen species in all were seen by me during the period mentioned, belonging to the different genera as follows : Cerio- daphnia (4), Scapholeberis (1), Simocephalus (1), Daphnia (4), Bosmina (1), Acroperus (1), Campto- cereus (1), Pleuroxus (1). I do not know whether to consider this as an exceptionally good list for one season or not, but it is certainly far better than my records for the two preceding years, and it would be interesting if collectors of pond-life in other localities would give their experience in this matter.—D. 7. Scourfield,
NEw SLIpEs.—We have received from Mr. A. Flatters, of Oldham, three most interesting and botanically useful slides. One is the transverse sec- tion of old pine-wood (Linus sylvestris), cut the ais in.; another is a tangential transverse section of the same, cut the same thinness ; and the third is the radial transverse section cut down to yyy in. Mr. Flatters’ slides are accompanied by a very ingenious explanatory diagram.
ZOOLOGY.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF JAMAICA,—In the article on this subject in the October number, I desire to correct one or two misprints in the list of names. For Synchloe jopparead Synchtoe F. For ‘‘ (Boridv.)” read ‘*(Boisdv.)” For Avicogonia terina read K. terissa, and for Callydryas senue read C. senne. All these belong to Jamaica; and they and their larvee (apparently a second brood) swarmed there from May to July, as so graphically described by Dr. Plaxton. Indeed the great number of larvze, chiefly of Noctuze (erebide). and Geometre (e.g, the beautiful black Melanochroia (?) with white-tipped wings) swarming sometimes in masses a foot and more wide, on the
HARDWICKE' S SCTENCE-GOSSTIP: 21
trunks of Pithecolobiun: saman, and other of their food-supplying trees, was a more remarkable feature of the earlier months of this year in Jamaica—and is the more remarkable when considered in connection with the alleged rarity of insect-life in more temperate regions during the same period.— Henry Strachan.
SUPPOSED BREEDING OF THE SCOTER NEAR CHICHESTER.—Mr. Anderson’s communication at Pp. 256 under the above heading is hardly so cir- cumstantial and full as to place the breeding of the scoter at Earnley beyond doubt, and I hope in a matter of so much interest he will publish all the particulars in his possession. Will Mr. Anderson kindly say whether any of the seven Scoters seen were procured, their presumed age, and what reason there was to suppose they had been hatched in that neigh- bourhood? Mr. Anderson is of course aware that scoters may be found on the coast in every month of the year, and that they not unfrequently in summer, visit inland sheets of fresh water. I think I have evidence even stronger than that given by Mr. Ander-
son in favour of the probability of the scoter having”
nested in Norfolk in 1875, for a brood of young birds was seen on Hickling Broad throughout the summer of that year, and the late Mr. Booth saw fourteen or fifteen of these birds flying over the same Broad in- wards at the end of July. I should hesitate to claim the scoter as having bred in Norfolk on this unsup- ported evidence, but if Mr. Anderson can show strong probability of its having done so at Earnley, I think the two cases would lend mutual support to each other.— Thomas Southwell, Norwich.
BLACK-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY.—I am glad to be able to give Mr. Waters the following informa- tion respecting the capture of this insect by a friend. In the neighbourhood of Sewerby, Hull, in May 1885, two larvze of this butterfly were found feeding on a species of thorn. It was not known what they were until the perfect insect appeared, when a further search was immediately made and six pupz were found in the same place, all of which emerged in the course of a day ortwo. Three of these are now in my possession. As many of the young trees and thorns about there were newly planted varieties from the Continent, might it not be possible that the ova or young larve might have been brought over into this country with them ?—C, £. Rockett.
SHELLS WITH DoupLz MoutTus.—Mr. Ashford, in his interesting account of the various records of double-mouthed monstrosities of Clausilize, remarks that, ‘‘ Judging by the absence of records, shells with large and simple mouths are not liable to such an accident.” Allow me to state that in Mr. William WNelson’s magnificent collection of Limnzide, there are a number of specimens of Limnea peregra with two and three apertures ; and if I remember rightly, I have also seen examples of double-mouthed Z. Zeregra
in the beautiful collection of Mr. J. Maddison of Bir- mingham.—/V. £. Collinge, St. Andrews, N.B.
CLAUSILIA WITH TWO APERTURES.—The corre- spondence on this subject in recent numbers of SCIENCE-GossIP, induces me to put on record the occurrence of a similar monstrosity in Bedfordshire. The species is Clawslia rugosa, and was found at the, foot of an old willow-tree, in the hamlet of Limbury, by my son Edgar. .The two apertures were well formed, and similarly situated to those shown on p. 257 for 1891. The specimen was presented to Mr. Taylor of Leeds, and probably is still in the posses- sion of that gentleman.— James Saunders, Luton.
BOTANY.
Morus AND SALLOws.—Every entomologist knows that the male catkins of the sallow are very attractive to moths, and that the liquid which they imbibe partially stupifies them. Now, I often wondered how, the sailow being anemophilous, the plant could be in any way advantaged by the visits of insects ; and why, if it is not advantaged, an attractive secretion was developed at all. It occurred to me that the insects shook the catkins and so facilitated the dispersion of pollen. But if this were the ex- planation, the stupifying nature of the liquid would seem a positive disadvantage, as it makes the insects remain quiet. The only explanation I can offer is, that when heavy moths become intoxicated and fall off, the elastic rebound of the stem of the catkin may shake off the pollen; but this seems very unsatis- factory, and possibly one of your readers may be able to give a better explanation.—7. R. Holt, Dublin.
ABNORMAL ORCHID FLOWERS.—The following abnormal orchid flowers have come under my observa- tion during the present year. One flower of Cattleya mossi@ with three sepals and two petals ; the superior petal was adherent to the column.* One flower of Cattleya mendelit with two sepals and only one petal, the lower sepal bearing rudiments of the labellum in the form of a narrow ridge running from the base of the column down the centre of the sepal and terminating in a deep purple-coloured contorted appendage. One flower of Cypripedium Lawrencianum in which the shield-like staminode was contorted. The labellum was larger and longer than usual, measuring exactly one inch longer than the inferior sepal. The two lateral petals were curved. The inner side of the right lateral petal was slightly lobed and inflected, bearing the markings and colours on frontal and dorsal sides exactly like the labellum, while on the outer side all the characteristics of the opposite petal were present. Two abnormal flowers of Cypripedium
* T am indebted to Mr. H. Sams for kindly sending me the first five specimens.
22 HARDWICKE’S SCITENCE-GOSSIP.
sedeni: (1.) Having a median fertile stamen occupy- ing the normal position of the staminode. There was no median sepal. The two lateral sepals were distinct. No lateral petals were present, but a petal occupying the position of the median sepal. (2.) The corolla of this flower was composed of four petals, the lateral petals were half-curved, and the lower petals assumed the saccate form of the labellum. The two lower sepals were concrescent ; the andrce- cium and gynzecium were normal. The first flower affords an example of a Cypripedium in a dimerous condition, and the second an example of pleiomery or plurality of parts. Seven malformed flowers of Phagus grandiflora, three of which had two of their petals adhering to and forming a hood over the column. Four flowers in which the dorsal sepal was united to the column. ‘The flowers of Ophrys afifera are very variable. This year I have seen several flowers in which the two pouches of the rostellum were more or less distant from each other, and I have frequently observed flowers with their pollinia differing in shape.—7. 7. A. Hicks, F.R.L.S.
Curious GROWTH OF FuNGI.—During one of my rambles in November, through a wood near Croydon, I collected a large number of specimens of fungi; many of them exceedingly beautiful, and all full of interest to the student of natural history. In one instance a common variety which abounded among the fallen leaves of the oaks and beeches, presented a growth so curious that perhaps an account of it will interest some of your numerous readers. ‘Three plants, belonging to a light brick- red-coloured variety of Agaric, with gills of a paler and more delicate shade, had sprung up close to one another and were connected together by their epi- dermis, the stems and gills of each individual being distinct and separate. There were no marks of suture at the juncture of the three caps, and the largest of the group was pulled over sideways by its smaller neighbours. These facts seem to show that the three plants came into existence in this condition, thus form- ing a sort of botanical Siamese triplet which I believe js very uncommon in this class of fungus. I naturally wished to preserve such a curiosity, but on examina- tion at home I found the plants to be infested by small white, footless, black-headed maggots, the larvze, I suppose, of a species of fly. Closer scrutiny revealed a minute puncture in each cap, by means of which the ova had been deposited by the parent-fly, in the plant that was to supply focd to the larve when hatched, and thus an organism that is, in a sense, parasitical upon decaying vegetation, was in its turn preyed upon by another. A few days later, when walking over the downs, I disturbed a flock of rooks, which proved to have been feeding on maggots similar to those just described, for the ground was strewn with fragments of fungi pecked to pieces by
them in prosecuting their search. I noticed here
another curious fact with regard to fungi. Wherever the turf had been taken up and removed, the place was marked by a ring of toadstools that had sprung up along the circumference of the part bared. I was unable to discern any cause for this, but the occur- rence was too marked and frequent to have been accidental.— 7. G. Bing.
‘¢ SPORTING’? CLOVER AND RARE PLANTS.— Apropos of Mr. G. H. Bryan’s note in your issue of this month, it may perhaps not be without interest to record that I also found the proliferous state of Trifolium repens on the bank of the Midland Railway, near Mill Hill, N.W., this summer, and not far from it a similarly monstrous form of Plantago major. Close to these, and evidently introduced in ballast, I found what an eminent botanical authority stigmatised, when I showed them to him, as ‘a bad lot” viz: Bartsia incana, Camelina sativa, Anthemis tinctoria, a Potentilla (I think, hirta), and a Dracocephalum. These five were all growing within the space of one square yard. Bartsia incana I subsequently found
‘again in abundance on the Great Northern Railway
near Finchley, in company with a blue labiate, which I have not been able to identify. On the Midland line near Hendon, I found a solitary plant of Zxysz- mum orientale, whilst Nasturtium sylvestre was grow- ing in abundance beside the Great Northern near High- gate. Ranunculus lingua still grows in the Totteridge ponds, and though Zeucriwm botrys has for the last few years been extinct at its former station near Mill Hill, Polygonum officinale (or multiflorus ?) still exists in the neighbourhood, but is so persistently eaten down by cattle before it has time to flower that its identification is difficult. I may add that I found a very fine albino bloom of Centaurea scabiosa in Sep- tember, at Cromer, while taking a fine haul of the larva of the privet hawk-moth, which always seems most abundant by the sea. If you think these notes of any interest, pray make what use you like of them. —A. EL. Hudson.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
CoLOoURING OF FLOWERS.—While the white- flower question is being noticed by the many botani- cal and other readers of SCIENCE-Gossip, I will mention a few which I think will be useful to its long list of notices. Plants of Campanula rotundifolia 1 have several times found quite colourless, or, on the other hand, coloured to excess ‘‘blue purple.” Orchis pyramidalis is often very variable in colouring ; on a hedge-bank in Kent I saw a large cluster of these plants, perhaps fifty, amongst them was a pair with light cream-coloured flowers ; others of the same group were of a deep rose-purple or madder colour. Of Gentiana amarella, an albino specimen sent to me by Mr. A. Pickard, of Wolsingham ; this is the first ‘* albino” of this plant I have seen, although I saw a great many of them normally coloured in Kent and Surrey this year. Of Gentiana campestris I found five colourless specimens growing in a group on Box
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P. 23
Hill. Specimens of Scadzosa succisa may be found of shades from white to purple; and Scadzosa columbaria from white to dark blue, but the latter very rare. It may be noticed, at least in many cases, that the want of colour is usually due to the ex- clusion of light and poorness of soil, while the excess of colouring (as the purple Pyramidal Orchis just men- tioned) is caused by excess oflight and nourishment ; but this does not account for the cream-coloured form in the same situation: plants having been placed in an air-tight bottle, and kept in the dark for a few days, will, as a rule, lose more or less their colouring. While speaking of abnormalities, I may mention some plants of Geranium molle; they were all above a yard long, and bore double flowers (November 14) of half to an inch in diameter, with from fifteen to thirty parts of all the whorls.—enry £. Grisét.
Toap-SpawN.—On August Ist, while visiting some small ponds, which had been dried up for some weeks, I found some spawn similar to that of the toad, but as I never knew toads to spawn there, and the ponds were a great resort of natterjacks, I suppose it was their spawn. Can you account for their late spawning ?
EDWARDs’ *‘ REPTILES.”’—Can any reader tell me if I could procure a copy of the paper which Thomas Edwards wrote upon the “ Reptiles of Banffshire,” and also what preparation is used to prevent the skins of such reptiles as frogs, newts, etc., from shrinking when bottled.—JZ. A. Smith.
THE Sotar YEAR.—The Solar Year consisting of 365 days 6 hrs. 9 min. 96 sec., and the 6 hrs. being accounted for by leap-year, I shall feel much obliged if any one could inform me how the remain- ing 9 min. 9°6 secs. are allowed for; whether in 1g00 A.D. an extra day will be inserted in the calendar.—7. R. Fones.
Late SwtrtTs.—On the 13th last November, I saw a swift. Had it been a swallow or martin I should scarcely have deemed it of sufficient- interest to send to your paper, but that it was a swift Iam quite sure, as it crossed the road I was on three or four times, flying low down; once being chased by one of our small native birds. This year I saw several in the early part of September.—Chas. Law.
ANIMATED OAtTs.—My cousin having sent me some Of these oats, I followed out her instructions by dipping one in some cold water and then lightly throwing it on a piece of paper. In a few seconds the awns began to move, and after some struggling the oat lifted itself up and turned over. After it had performed many gyrations the oat again became inanimate. I should be greatly obliged if some reader of SCIENCE-GossIP, could explain the cause of these movements.—Clara Kingsford, Canterbury.
THE PLAGUE OF FLIEs.—Whilst botanizing in woods during last summer and autumn, I was on several occasions almost driven mad by the constant attack of flies and other insects, and although I en- deavoured to ward off the same and keep them at a respectful distance by smoking and sprinkling my hat and clothes with camphor or carbolic, I found that my rude remedies were quite unsuccessful. Thinking that some of your esteemed contributors could suggest an efficient remedy for this plague, I have ventured to ask your kind assistance, not only for myself, but many others who have suffered in the same way.—C, fea.
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.
To CORRESPONDENTS AND EXCHANGERS.—As we now publish ScreNcE-Gossrp earlier than formerly, we cannot un- dertake to insert in the following number any communications which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month.
To Anonymous Querists.—We must adhere to our rule of not noticing queries which do not bear the writers’ names.
To DEALERS AND OTHERS.—We are always glad to treat dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general ground as amateurs, in so far as the ‘‘exchanges”’ offered are fair exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply DisGuis—ED ADVERTISEMENTS, for the purpose of evading the cost of advertising, an advantage is taken of our gratuztous insertion of ‘‘ exchanges,” which cannot be tolerated.
WE request that all exchanges may be signed with name (or initials) and full address at the end.
Spectat Note.—There is a tendency on the part of some exchangers to send more than one per month. We only allow this in the case of writers of papers.
To our Recent ExcHANGERS.—Weare willing to be helpful to our genuine naturalists, but we cannot further allow dzs- guised Exchanges like those which frequently come to us to appear unless as advertisements.
A. E. Boycott.—We shall be very pleased to have your paper for Scl1ENCE-GossIP.
J. A. W.—See Dr. Taylor’s book on ‘‘ Our Common British Fossils,”’ for descriptions and illustrations of the crag shells found in the Walton-on-Naze cliffs.
J. H. B. Green.—Many thanks for the unusually large and fine specimen of abnormal growth of cabbage-leaf. It well illustrates the origin of Pitcher plants. See the papers on “‘Vegetable Teratology,” in SciencE-GossiP vol. for 1890.
F. G. Binc.—Many thanks for your pretty sketch of the three funguses growing together by their caps.
J. E. K.—Apply to Messrs. Wesley & Son, or Messrs. Dulau, for works on Natural History, &c., of Brazil.
H. W. BisHop.—You can procure a simple section-cutting machine from any dealer in microscopic materials.
A. W. RicHarpson.—Coloured plates were only issued with ScrencE-Gossip during 1884 and 1885.
ALFRED TARNER.—Get Mr. English’s (of Epping) little book on how to preserve fungi. Mr. Maynard, of Saffron Walden, prepares them beautifully.
E. Craven.—The only mineral resembling iron-ore (specular iron) in the very small specimen sent, is the dark transversely striated mineral ‘‘ Black Jack,” or zincic sulphide.
“‘Hussar.”—Get the ‘‘Collector’s Handbook,” published by W. H. Allen & Co. There is no little book on marine life correspnding to Cook’s Ponds and Ditches.” Pennington’s “‘Zoophytes,’’ and Dr. Landsborough’s ditto are good.
JoszPH Smitru.—See chapters on ‘‘Sponges,” by Professor Sollas, in 1884 vol. of ScrencE-Gossie; also on ‘‘Shore Collecting,” in Scrence-Gossip vol. for 1888. All the works on the subject are expensive.
EXCHANGES.
GEOLOGICAL works by Geikie, Woodward, Dawson, Green, &c., wanted, in exchange for foraminifera named and mounted, or for foraminiferal material.—J. H. C., Highland House, St. Julian’s, Malta.
TerTIARY fossils. Wanted, tertiary fossils, named and located, in exchange for Mediterranean shells, lepiduptera, &c. State desiderata.k—J. H. C., Highland House, St. Julian’s, Malta. b
Humeotp7’s ‘‘ Kosmos,”’ 2 vols., 1845-48, cloth gilt, scarcely soiled. Offers.—Joseph Wallis, Deal.
WanrTED, fertile eggs of vapourer moth (Orgyza antigua), in exchange for eggs of gipsy moth. Address—A. Witt, Hale Parsonage, Salisbury.
I sHALL be glad of any named British shells to start a collection. Can offer a few species of British lepidoptera.— Miss E. M. Pepperell, 5 Park Street, Bristol.
Scrence-Gossip wanted, cheap (Nos. 241-288, both in- clusive), to complete set. State lowest price.—H. J. Barber, Brighouse, Yorkshire.
WaAnrTED, good micro. slides up to the value of 4/., in ex- change for an aquarium 24 X 12 % 12 inches, glass slides.— W. Davis, 48 Richmond Road, Cardiff.
A fine gathering of Batracheosperma moniliforma, suitable for mounting, in exchange for good slides, preferably of marine hydrozoas and polyzoas.—J. E. Lord, Rawtenstall.
Ecos to exchange for others not in collection: sheldrake, spoonbill, red grouse, quail, woodchat, shrike, common shrike,
24 HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP.
ring-ousel, red-lezged partridge, Arctic tern, black-headed bunting, black guillemot, kittiewake, herring gull, and coote.— K. H. Jones, St. Bride’s Rectory, Manchester.
ExectrricaL.—Frictional and galvanic apparatus, good as ‘new. Will exchange for good magic-lantern and part cash, or offers.—G., 35 Caversham Road, N.W.
A coop collection of British and foreign land, freshwater, and marine shells, consisting of over three hundred species, and many varieties, including fifty lots of shells, neatly mounted, in glass tubes. For full particulars apply to—P. R. Shaw, 48 Bidston Road, Birkenhead.
Tate’s ‘‘Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” coloured plates, clean copy, good as new. What offers—geological? Also Sci#nce-Gossip for 1886, unbound.—G. H. Corbett, 13 Church Road, Nechells, Birmingham.
DeEsIvDERATA. — Testacella haliotidea, mauget; Zonites glaber, radiatuius, excavatus, purus, fuluus; Helix aspersa var. exalbida, arbustorum var. flavescens, sericea, fusca, virgata, var. nigrescens, tessellata, ericetorum var. instabilis, prgm@a; Clausilia laminata, Acme lineata. Oblata.—H. rufescens var. alba, rubens, and minor, hispida, concinna, vevelata, pisana, virgata, and vars. major, minor, albicans, vufula, lutescens, submaritima, alba, caperata, and vars. obliterata, alba, fulva, ornata, ericetorum, and vars. lutescens, leucozona, major, minor, rotundata, rupestris, lapicida; Bulimus obscurus, Pupa secale, umbilicata, marginata; Balea perversa, Clausilia rugosa, and var. tumidula, dubia, Cyclo- stoma elegans.—S., 40 Braybrooke Road. Hastings.
WANTED, back numbers of ScieNcE-Gossip for 1866, 1868— 1871, 1873, 1879, 1882-1884, in exchange for micro. slides or cash. Also, would like to exchange a few slides for others.— F. S. Morton, 158 Cumberland Street, Portland, Maine, U.S.A.
WanTED, freshwater, sea shells, and corals, in exchange for chalk polyzoa, flustra, lituola, rotalia, serpula, spicules, geodes (flint), crystals of selenite from London clay.—W. Gamble, 2 West Street, New Brompton, Kent.
Hlelix vittata(?) large, and far flatter than type; H. traz- guebarica, Velosita cyprinoides, Neritina orialanensis, Nassa Yacksoniana and Tympanotomus fluviatilis, from Travan- core; also various marine shells from Cape Comorin (un- named), for foreign helices.—Rev. J. W. Horsley, Woolwich.
Herparium. — Offered, British, Norwegian, and North American plants, for those of other countries. Printed list of duplicates.—H. Fisher, 26 Stodman Street, Newark, Notts.
Scrence-Gossip (unbound), for 1867, 1887-89. What offers in foreign postage-stamps for same?—W. Harris, 136 Drayton Park, Highbury, London, N. i
WanTED, back numbers of Scrence-Gossip, “‘ Zoologist,” “Naturalist,” ‘‘Naturalist’s Gazette,” and ‘Field Club”; bound vols. preferred. Will exchange books, eggs, &c. Also wanted, works by Hewitson and Morris.—W. R. Riley, Savile Lea, Halifax, Yorks.
ForEIGN land and marine shells, offered in exchange for orchids or foreign birds. —Miss Linter, Arragon Close, Twickenham,
ExcHANGE.—Fine Lingula scotica, lower carboniferous, in ironstone nodule; photo free. Photographic books or offers to value of s50s.—W. J. Heslop, West View, Lemington, Newcastle, 1
ExCHANGE.—Side-blown eggs of capercaillie, sociable plover, Canada goose, ring-ousel, eider duck, ptarmigan, twite, gold- crest, teal, Manx sherewater, &c. Desiderata, other eggs or insects.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley.
EXCHANGE fine series of crag fossils \for eggs, insects, or offers.—J. Ellison, Steeton, Keighley.
WANTED, micro. slides showing organs of generation in thallophytes, and sections of seeds. Will give good botanical slides. Address—T. B., Conservative Club, Hinckley.
WANTED, to correspond with collectors who may have rare British shells to offer in return for other very rare British shells. Mutual exchanges.x—Thomas E. Sclater, Strand, Teignmouth.
WANTED, a few specimens of the following: labradorite, crocodolite (from the Congo), and any other good bright crystal minerals, about two or three inches in size and up- wards, in exchange for British shells, micro. objects, fossils, polished madrepores.—A. J. R. Sclater, M.C.S., Natural History Stores, 43 Northumberland Place, The Strand, Teignmouth.
WanTED, British mammals, alive or in the flesh (fresh killed), particularly bats, mice, shrews, voles, wild cat, pine and beech marten, badger, otter; also varieties of mole, hedge- hog, &c.; must be in good condition for stuffing. Apply to— W. Harcourt Bath, Ladywood, Birmingham.
ScrencE-GossiP, Nos. 241-264, having four numbers missing, and a deal cabinet containing about one hundred British wild bird and gull eggs, in exchange’for curios.—G. Waters, 21 Westbourne Park Road, Bayswater, W.
Wuar offer for a splendid collection of Helzx nemoralis, including eight named vars., and forty variously banded, nearly all named: also ten various 1. avdustorum, including var. alba.—H. Blaby, Brackley, Northants.
TerTIARY and cretaceous fossils wanted. Sends lists to— J. A. Ellis, r Pomona Place, Fulham, London, S.W.
OFFERED, Ramsbotham’s ‘‘ Obstetric Surgery ” (published at 22s.), Nicholson’s ‘‘ Zoology” (7s. 6d.), Orme’s ‘‘ Heat” (3s. 6@.), Cleland’s ‘‘ Animal Physiology” (2s. 6d.), Saarner’s “*The Microscope.” Wanted, good minerals and fossils.— W. H. Olver, 2 Adelaide Terrace, Truro.
To naturalists in India. Wanted, pupz or ove of wild silk moths: A. atlas, A. selene, A. cynthia, A. mylitta, C. tri- JSenestrata, &c. Will give cash or full exchange, as desired. Correspondence invited.—Mark L, Sykes, F.R.M.S., 31 Derby Street, Moss Side, Manchester.
OFFERED, British land, freshwater, and marine shells for others, or offers. — A. H. Shepherd, 8r Corinne Road, London, N.
Eocene fossils for exchange, named and localised, also Cornish rock and mineral specimens. Wanted, named speci- mens of minerals, micro. rock sections, or perfect terebratulze from any formations, or offers,—E, H. V. Davies, 46 Upper Belgrave Road, Clifton, Bristol.
WanTED, fossils from various localities, especially British and foreign tertiaries.—Thomas W. Reader, 171 Hemingford Road, London, N.
I wisu to dispose of thirty 8 X 6 photographs of locomotive engines (cost 2s. each), for which I will take offers in exchange. Wanted, a microscope, clarionet, violin, safety, or other useful thing.—Reginald E. M. Bleasdall, Dale End, Birmingham.
Vou. 41 of ‘‘ Nature,” clean, unbound, in exchange for anything entomological—W. S. Rolfe, Hazeldene, Tooting Junction, S.W.
Due.icatgs.—Fine stuffed specimen of cormorant in first- class preservation, from the Isle of Wight, also P. ovale, L. stagnalis, L. glabra, S. elegans, H, arbustorum, H.cantiana, Hi. rufescens, H. pisana, and var. alba, H. virgata, and var. albicans, H. caperata, H. ertcetorum, H. vrotundata, B. acutus, B. obscurus, P. umbillicata, C. rugosa, C. lubrica, C. elegans, &c. Desiderata, many varieties of common species and offers, birds’ eggs, or British butterflies and moths.— W. Hewett, 12 Howard Street, York.
OFFERED, Pis. amnicum, Pal. vivipara, Byth. tentaculata, Plan. carinatus, H. nemoralis, H. hortensis, H. arbustorum, Bul. obscurus, Vert. pygma@a, Coch. tridens, in exchange for British land and freshwater shells not in collection; also for foreign shells. Foreign correspondence invited.—H. E. Craven, Matlock Bridge.
For exchange, P. contecta, V. piscinalis, V. cristata, Lim. glabra, L. truncatula, L. palustris, P. spirorbis, P. glaber, P. dilatatus, S. putris, H. sericea, C. tridens, C. minimunt, Wanted, Fis. nitidum, Z. excavatus, H. cartusiana, Cl. biplicata, &c.—F. C. Long, 32 Woodbine Road, Burnley, Lancs.
WAnTED, B. montanus, P. nitidum, P. roseum, A. lineata, Offered, P. secale, Gonisbasis plicifera, Neritina pupa, H. strigella, H. umbrosa, H. obvia, Cl. papillifera, Cl. itala, Pupa avenacea, Cl. parvula.—G, H. Gude, 5 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway.
A SPLENDID series of nearly fifty animal hairs, in return for six well-mounted micro. slides.—Arthur H. Williams, Hythe.
WanTED, Turton’s ‘‘ Manual of the Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Islands,” Gray’s Ed. of 1857; Reeve’s “(Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1863; and Tate’s ‘‘ Land and Freshwater Molluscs,” 1866.—H. W. Kew, 5 Giesbach Road, Upper Holloway, N.
BOOKS, ETC., RECEIVED FOR NOTICE.
“‘Delagoa Bay: Its Natives and Natural History,” by Rose Monteiro (London: Philip & Son).—‘‘ Annals of British Geology,” 1890,” by J. F. Blake (London: Dulau & Co.).— “Larranga’s Photo-Phonograph,” by Julius Maier.—‘‘ Report of Norwich Science-Gossip Club, 1890.”—‘‘ Journal of the Institute of Jamaica.”—‘‘ Proceedings of the Geologists’ Asso- ciation.”—“The Essex Naturalist.”—Wesley’s ‘‘ Nat. Hist. and Scientific Book Circular.”—‘‘American Microscopical Journal.”—‘‘ American Naturalist.”—‘‘Canadian Entomolo- gist.”’—‘ The Naturalist.”—‘‘ The Botanical Gazette.” —‘‘ The Gentleman’s Magazine.” — ‘‘The Midland Naturalist.” — “Feuilles des Jeunes Naturalistes.”—‘‘The Microscope.”— “Nature Notes,” &c., &c.
CoMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED UP TO THE 12TH ULT. FROM: A. H. S.—j. W. S.-H. G. W. A.—J. R. H.—E. W.—H. 5. —T. L.—J. H. C—O. W. J.—A. E. B.—W. J. P.—R. H. Y. J. H. A. H.—G. H. W.—J. A. E.—J. E. L.—H. E. G.— S. M.—F. V. T.—W. D.—C. K.—A. G. F.—H. I. B.—
i935 Sb
[SEMA Gib, SC. Caen P) R. SRS TFs, FLD ae ee R. B—E. H.V. D.—C. E. R.—W. H.—T. W. RA. Be Swi SURE TSA = EC eae eae W. HH. FW. We E.G AaES eens K. G.—F. C. L—J. H. B. G—M. L. S—W. B..0.—H B.— G. W.—G.'L. R—W. He B= DS yes =A RS S.—F. G:B—_W. R. RAN Hes — Clip CR Wares TS. B.—J.E.—T. $.—f. E. H—P. FD —C) Ds Se R—T. S. M.—J..H. CJ) ANS =A: BMP: Wi Aas J. W. F,—H. W. K.—Dr. A. M. C.—&c., &c.
HARDWICKE'S SCLENCE-GOSST/P. 25;
THE POSSIBLE COAL-FIELDS OF EAST ANGLIA.
RECENT lecture by Dr. Taylor, the editor of SCIENCE-GOsSIP, is reported as follows, in the ‘*East Anglian Daily Times.” The lecture was delivered at the Atheneum, Bury St. Edmunds. The Right Hon. Earl Cadogan, K.G., occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. The noble Chairman in in- troducing Dr.
Taylor, said the subject which that gentleman had ©
chosen for his lecture was of the greatest possible interest to all who dwell in the Eastern Counties.
Dr. Taylor opened his lecture by referring to the numerous mistakes made by people who knew nothing of the matter, concerning the probable occurrence of coal in Hast Anglia. He had seen in the newspapers letters stating that coal had been discovered in yarious well-borings throughout the county, but this simply meant that an occasional pebble of coal had been found in the drift beds among thousands of other pebbles which had been brought down and strown about by glacial agencies. It was easy to understand that from places in the Midland and Northern counties, where the coal cropped out, fragments were brought down to this district by the moving sheet of ice which at one time covered the Eastern counties. But these incidental findings of coal had nothing to do with the great argument he had to lay before them that evening, and he asked
No. 326.—FEBRUARY 1892,
them, in the first place, to disabuse their minds of any such idea.*
What he wanted to ask them was, to imagine— and science had to appeal largely to the imagination —what the appearance of the Eastern counties would be if they could strip off, like the clothes from a bed, all the overlying strata, including the chalk, He did not hesitate to say that, if they did so, they would find a continuation of the same primary rocks extending underneath London and into the South- Eastern counties as those which occupied the surface in North Wales, Lancashire, Cheshire, and York- shire, only perhaps in a more or less parallel series of folds, running nearly west and east. On the ridges of these the lower Primary rocks would be found, and in the hollows of the folds, perhaps, coal-basins. It was with this fact that his lecture would have to deal. It could not be a so-called popular lecture, therefore, but must of necessity be more or less scientific, and the issues involved in it were so important to the Eastern counties that he did not hesitate to place these scientific arguments before them in as clear and lucid a manner as he was capable of. [It may be said here that the lecturer was largely assisted by specially-- made diagrams, covering the walls, as well as black- board sketches, which enabled his hearers the more: clearly to follow his closely-reasoned line of argument. ]
The first point to be established was that between- the Somersetshire coal-field and possibly the South Welsh coal-fields in the west, and the coal-fields of Northern France and Belgium to the east, there was an underground continuation. The rocks were tied on, so to speak, from one end to the other, only they were like a chain which had been bellied down in the middle during the secondary period of geology, covered by the sea to a great depth, and strown over
* [Since the above lecture was delivered I had recently- found specimens of ‘‘coal’’ sent me from well-borings passed) through the boulder clay. They were not coal at all, but fragments of black Kimmeridge shale.—Ep. S.-G.].
Cc
26 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
==
with the deposits of that particular age. On the south there were thick strata of Oolitic formations, which in the famous Sussex Wealden boring were found to be nearly 2,000 feet in thickness. At Dover they were 600 feet thick, but there they had bored through the chalk, through this underlying 600 feet thick of oolite, and had struck the Carboni- ferous rocks. Five different seams of coal had been pierced, he believed, so that a shaft was following the boring at the present time, and before long there would be a Dover Coal-Field added to those already existing in England.
By means of a sketch on the blackboard, Dr. Taylor showed that this easterly and westerly extension— that is to say, between the west in England and the east in Belgium and Northern France—was an anti- clinal axis or series of axes, along whose flanks different rocks of the primary period rested upon each other in such a way that if they could be moved to their relative positions, those furthest away from the main ridge would be uppermost and latest formed, while those close to the centre of the run of the axis would be the oldest. Therefore, he contended, it was along the outer flanks of this main axis that the coal-beds would be found, if anywhere. These flanks had themselves been much contorted, so that the coal would be in the form of narrow basins of no great width, although of considerable length, running along the trend of the underground primary ridge. For instance in Somersetshire, the basins from which coal was at present worked were very narrow in comparison with their length. The Lié¢ge Coal-Field in Belgium was not more than eight miles wide although it was 45 miles long. At Charleroi the coal-field was ‘eight miles broad and 35 miles long. Narrow as they were, however, these coal-fields were rich in seams. At Liége 35 different seams had been discovered ; in Westphalia 117; and in all of the basins he had mentioned coal was worked abundantly and profitably, although at a great depth. It had been thought by geologists in former years that it would be impracti- cable to work for coal underneath the chalk. The first intimation that this was not necessarily the case was given by a deep artesian well-boring near Calais, some years ago, in which the primary rocks were struck just beneath the chalk, all the other secondary strata being more or less absent. The Valenciennes Coal-Field, which was only 30 miles away from Calais, was now being very largely worked beneath the chalk, and this gave encouragement to him (Dr. Taylor) many years ago to believe that similar conditions might prevail immediately under the chalk and tertiary strata in the Eastern counties. ‘
The lecturer then directed attention to an artesian well-boring made at Harwich in 1859, by Mr. Peter Bruff, of Ipswich. That well had a depth of less than 1,200 feet, but the Lower Carboniferous Rocks were struck and penetrated to a depth of 70 feet.
He pointed out, however, that these were not the real coal-bearing rocks, and that every foot deeper they went down at Harwich might take them further away from the proper position where the coal-bearing strata would be found, unless the strata were inverted, as was the case in some parts of the Belgium coal- field. The latter had doubtless been peeled off by denudation during the period when the rocks were exposed to atmospherical wear and tear, and were depressed to become the bottom of the cretaceous sea. The one important fact to geo- logists in connection with the Harwich well-boring was that none other of the secondary formations were present beneath the chalk, but that the chalk went bang down upon the old floor of primary rocks. Reasoning on this point, and believing that to the north the upper coal-measures—the higher coal- measures, that was to say-—would be found in successive order resting upon the flanks of the - Harwich carboniferous foundation, he-had thought that trial borings to the south of Suffolk, and possibly to the north in Essex, might penetrate some of the upper measure containing the crumbled, narrow, and elongated coal-fields he had referred to. A few years ago at Combs, near Stowmarket, the chalk was pierced in a deep well at a considerably less depth than had been anticipated—a little under goo feet; but unfortunately the boring-tool did not proceed Any further, so geologists were left in dark- ness as to what remained underneath. The primary rocks in Suffolk had never really been bottomed until a few months ago, when at Culford, five miles from Bury St. Edmunds, in an artesian well-boring upon Lord Cadogan’s estate, the chalk and the few beds of underlying cretaceous strata were passed through, and what were now believed to be the primary rocks were reached. These ,had only been pierced, how- ever, for a distance of a few feet, and none of the characteristic fossils of the carboniferous formation had been brought up. Instead of that, the process of boring had somehow or another carried down, from the lower cretaceous beds, into the soft shales of the primary rocks beneath, some of the lower greensand microscopic fossils. The gault was repre- sented by a comparatively hard bed, and a fragment of an ammonite had been brought up which resembled a liassic species. It was thought by geologists, however, to be very unlikely that the lias strata should occur at such a high level without any trace of the oolitic rocks above, and the conclusion had been arrived at, therefore, that the occurrence of this fossil there in a fragmentary state must have been as a derivative one. The bottom rocks at Culford, near Bury St. Edmunds, the seat of Earl Cadogan, were believed by Mr. A. Jukes-Brown, Mr. Whitaker, Mr. Holmes, and others, to be primary ; and Dr. Taylor expressed his conviction from the microscopical exa- mination he had made of a few fragments, that they were from the lower coal-measures of the carbonifer-
AARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 27
ous formation. However, he hoped Earl Cadogan would come to the aid of scientific men, and allow the boring to proceed another hundred feet into these interesting Primary rocks. They must re- member that this was the first time the underlying Primary floor had been bottomed in Suffolk, and that a boring through these soft carboniferous shales might be of practical benefit even if coal were not found. He had submitted specimens of these soft shales to analysis by Mr. J. Napier, of the Museum Laboratory, and, as he (the lecturer) anticipated, they were found to contain strong traces of petroleum. It would not be a bad thing if a deep boring through these soft shales yielded petroleum instead of coal.
What he should like to see was trial-borings a little further to the north of Culford. Taking a line from Southwold through Eye to Mildenhall, he thought that would be the best district along which to make such efforts to reach the upper coal-measures which probably lay synclinally along the northern flanks of these underground primary rocks, He had much faith in the districts of Brandon, Lakenheath, and Mildenhall, because the Memoir of the Geological Survey, so carefully mapped and measured by Mr. Woodward, showed that the oolitic rocks thinned out in that direction, and that very deep borings would not be required, therefore, in order to reach the primary rocks beneath. The most remarkable thing to geo- logists was, that at Culford these oolitic beds were absent. The thinnest set of the overlying beds had been previously bored through at Ware, in Hertford- shire, at a depth of 800 feet, but at Culford the depth was only 650 feet. What they wanted, therefore, in the future, with regard to experiments in search of coal, was to institute a set of borings somewhere in the region he had just mentioned. He should prefer the waste lands about Mildenhall, which now grew nothing but peasants and pheasants, as the site, for if coal could be found there, it would save the sylvan lanes of Suffolk from a destruction, which, however much he valued the importance of coal, he should be sorry to see brought about.
In conclusion, Dr. Taylor said they must remember that at present this inquiry was in the scientific stage. In any undertakings that might be made for the discovery of coal, he wished it to be distinctly understood that they were scientific experiments. He thought that some might prove successful, but he should be very sorry to have it go forth that the enterprise was as yet, ina purely commercial stage. He had been writing on this subject for nearly twenty years past! Hitherto, he had piped and nobody had danced: now, there was a tendency to dance too much. Nevertheless, without public support and public spirit, this important inquiry could never be carried on, and he appealed to all patriotic residents in East Anglia for assistance towards a solution of the problem. He was delighted that that night he
had been honoured with the presence of a wealthy and enterprising English nobleman, known and hon- oured by the English people, and he would venture to ask his powerful aid and influence towards the decision of a question, upon which science was bring- ing to bear the weight of logical facts. In the opinion of the people of East Anglia no current subject was of greater importance than the one he had been privileged to lecture upon that night, and remem- bering how coal had been discovered under similar conditions in France and Belgium, as well as at Dover, he thought that residents in this part of the country could not sit contented with their hands in their laps, without allowing some trial-borings to be made in the manner he had suggested.
The lecture occupied an hour.
At the close, Earl Cadogan, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, spoke of the eloquent and very interesting manner in which Dr. Taylor had dealt with a subject, which might otherwise had been con- sidered dry, and as President he felt that he might become the interpreter of the audience in thanking Dr. Taylor. He (Earl Cadogan) had never heard the theories and facts of so abstruse and scientific a subject treated in a more interesting manner. Dr. Taylor had made certain points as to strata perfectly clear to his audience. * Earl Cadogan said he had specimens of the various strata, through which there had been boring at Culford, sent to eminent geolo- gists. He gathered from Dr. Taylor’s lecture that the chances of finding coal in the neighbourhood of Culford were somewhat remote, but understood that petroleum might possibly be found beneath his estate. Such a subterranean arrangement was a contingency which hitherto had not presented itself to his mind. He understood from Dr. Taylor’s remarks that it was desirable to prosecute boring researches further. Mineral wealth was of the utmost importance in a district like that of East Anglia. If coal was dis- covered in the Eastern counties, undoubtedly the™ wealth of the residents would be much increased, and the prosperity of the kingdom enhanced. He should be glad if such a prospect could be foreshadowed, and might add that although he could not undertake to incur very great expense, yet possibly the boring would be continued some distance further. It was highly desirable a subject so full of interest and in- struction should be continued some extent further. If Dr. Taylor’s well-considered lecture proved instru- mental in enlightening the inhabitants of the Eastern counties in the direction indicated, he thought all present would agree that a very agreeable and profitable evening would have been spent.
A hearty vote of thanks having been accorded to Dr. Taylor by acclamation, in acknowledging the compliment, he expressed his pleasure in hearing that Earl Cadogan would permit the boring at Culford to be extended 50 to 60 feet further for the benefit of
science. C2
28 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
ROSSENDALE RHIZOPODS. No 8.
2 our previous papers we have treated upon the
Rhizopods belonging to the order Protoplasta, which is divided into two sub-orders, Lobosa and Filosa ; in the present article we arrive at the order Heliozoa. This contains nine genera, and sixteen or more species. The Rhizopods of this order differ widely, in many important particulars, from those of the previous one. Some of them are very beautiful, from the presence of chlorophyll as a permanent constituent of their bodies; others are, perhaps, more curious than beautiful; while a considerable number are very obscure, and in some cases offer considerable difficulty to a successful identification. The animals of this order are essentially swimmers, and are most commonly found among Algze and duck- weed. They consist generally of a more or less spherical mass of naked, foamy protoplasm.
In one genus, Clathrulina, there is a beautiful
Fig. 12.—Actinophrys sol.
latticed, globular, stalked, silicious test. In Vampy- rella, the spherical body can assume ameboid forms, and in addition to the ordinary pseudopodial rays, there are others which are Acineta-like, and the periphery of the body can be thrown into conical and lobose extensions. The species of Diplophrys are mostly minute, and generally associated together in numbers, each having fine pseudopodia radiating from its opposite poles, and an interior coloured (amber or red) spot.
Acanthocystis has many both curious and beautiful species, which are characterised by the body being invested by a layer of protoplasm densely crowded with minute linear particles, and by the presence of simple, pin-like, or furcate silicious radiating spines. In Raphidiophrys there is also an exterior layer of protoplasm extending in tapering processes on to the pseudopodial rays, and densely pervaded with minute
spicules tangentially arranged; the Rhizopods of this genus are generally compound, being found jn groups of variable numbers joined by isthmus-like bars. The genus Heterophrys is Actinophrys-like, but the body is invested with a layer of granular protoplasm, having a villous surface. In Hyalolampe, the protoplasmic body is covered with a layer of minute, colourless, silicious globules. Although I have seen several species belonging to at least three of the above genera, it is quite evident that they are somewhat rare forms in this district, and as in the instances mentioned I was unable to devote time to their study, I do not propose in these articles to describe any of the above genera, confining my notes to the two genera, Actinophrys and Actinospherium. I think it probable that the Rhizopods of the order under consideration are southern forms, delighting in the genial warmth of a less rigorous climate than that of Rossendale. I know that, with the exceptions to be stated presently, none of my microscopical friends have been more fortunate: than myself in the collection of the Heliozoa ; while, on the other hand, I have frequently come across them in tubes of the Rotifera sent me by kind correspondents from various parts of the Midland counties and the south of England. Actinophrys sol,* or, as the older micro- scopists termed it, ‘*The Sun Animalcule,” appears to be as common here as elsewhere, being found in all our waters, particularly those well supplied with duckweed and other aquatic plants. Few possessors of microscopes, I should imagine, have not frequently had this Heliozoan Rhizopod under observation. It presents itself generally as a colour- less, globular, more or Jess cellular-looking body, covered with long, delicate, hair-like rays. As it placidly floats in the water, it seems entirely unfitted to cope with its more active neighbours ; but obser- vation proves it to be able to look well after its commissariat. Although it is to some extent at the mercy of the slightest current, it is able to anchor itself to some stationary or floating object. It is a somewhat sluggish, and apparently a stationary animal, but if carefully watched it will be noticed to slowly glide along by some obscure movements of its pseudopodial rays. The body, as stated above, is generally colourless, but coloured food-balls, red, green, or brown, may sometimes be observed embedded in some part of its substance ; these, after digestion has continued some time, appear as coloured, cloudy patches. The body is granular, and seems in some individuals so vesicular as to present the appear- ance of cellular tissue, though not often as definitely so as in Actinospherium. The pseudopodia are very numerous, but variable in different specimens ; they are as long, or even twice as long, as the diameter of the body, and are very delicate, and c2pable of retraction.
* The vesicles in the figure of A. soZ ought to have been shaded.
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 29
The animal multiplies by division, and may occasion- ally be observed in various stages of the process. Its food consists of Rotifera, Infusoria, and Microscopic Algz. When one of the Rotifera, or other active animal, swims against the pseudopodial rays, they lay hold of the object, and if successful in retaining it, contract to the surface of the body, drawing down the prey with them, which is then surrounded by a portion of the body protoplasm, after which the mass is drawn in. There is a large central nucleus, generally indistinct, and a large bubble-like contracting vesicle, situated at the periphery of the body. Size variable, my specimen from ,}, to sw of an inch in diameter of body: Actinophrys picta, the only other species, closely resembles 4. so/, differing only in the colourless granular protoplasm having numerous green chlorophyll granules scattered through its sub- stance. Ihave found only one or two specimens of this species, and it re- quires no further description for its identification. I now come to the last of the Heliozoas for which I can fairly claim a Rossendale habitat. Actinospherium Eichhornit was for- merly placed in the previous genus, but was eventually separated on account of important differences. It is large, and not nearly so common here as Actinophrys sol ; indeed, I only know one pond, a mill-lodge, from which I occasionally get specimens ; in this the water is somewhat warm from the waste steam which, on condensation, runs into it. It differs from Actinophrys, as I have said, in being larger, but _ its most obvious distinction is the fact of its being separable into two layers—an outer, composed of a single or double row of well-marked vesicles, some- what regularly placed—the interior not so well- defined. The outer vesicles are in the form of short, six-sided columns, and the broader end out- ward, in order to form the sphere. The animal is spherical or oval, colourless and hyaline as regards the marginal vesicles; interior frequently clouded. The pseudopodial rays may be numerous or few, granular, tapering, and radiate as in Actinophrys, though not so long proportionately,* and in this genus there is an axial thread -of more solid protoplasm in each of the rays, which, though spine-like, and not rigid, yet give strength and support tothem. These threads arise from the surface of the interior mass, and reach nearly to the tip of each pseudopodial ray. Food, habits and habitat same as Actinophrys; nuclei numerous, brought out by reagents; con- tracting vesicles two, on opposite sides, bubble-like.
* Rays rarely as long as in the figure.
Size of body from 3, to yj; of an inch. Rays about, or not quite equal in length, to diameter of body. In my next I propose to figure and describe the new
Fig. 13.—Actinospherium Eichhornii.
forms which have come under my observation, though many particulars are wanting before they can:
be correctly placed. J. E. Lorp. Rawtenstall,
P.S. I regret, that owing to_the excessive wetness
of 1891, and other causes, I shall have to defer a
description of my new forms until a future occasion. —j.E.L.
EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES. [Continued from No. 324, p. 277-]
N my way from Neuchatel to Zermatt I stopped:
the night at Sierre, where three years ago I
got a fine series of Daplidice in the grounds of that most comfortable hotel, the Belle Vue. Podalirius abounds here ‘at the proper season, and Didyma is quite as abundant. Here, too, is to be found in the roads that run through the vineyards to the north of the town, in greater numbers than I have ever seen it elsewhere, three, four, even five specimens on one plant of Lupatorium cannabinum being by no means unusual, and this in the full sunshine. I once caught it there at its\best, and got some magnificent examples of this strikingly beautiful insect. In the morning, before starting for Zermatt, I took a saunter round the rather extensive grounds of the hotel (once a
30 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
chateau belonging to the nuble family De Courten, and containing some beautiful oak-panelled rooms).
Just at the south of a wood which consists chiefly of pine-trees, and which covers a small hill in the grounds (by the bye, these pines are infested by mistletoe, some trees having a score or more of plants on them), I saw a large bright blue butterfly start from a plant of Colutea arborescens, and fly up into the wood. That it was something that I had never seen before was certain, and I ran back to the hotel for my net. On my return I was very gratified to find that the butterfly had returned too, and in a trice I had him in my net. It turned out to be a perfect male of Iolas, so rare as a Swiss insect— though abundant enough in southern France—that only three previous captures in Switzerland are on record.
These were all taken near Sierre, so that if the neighbourhood were carefully worked at the begin- ning of July (mine was taken on the 2nd), I have no doubt other specimens might be got there.
We reached Zermatt on the 2nd of July. The first two or three days were very wet indeed, and my excursions during this time were confined to con- stitutionals down and up the high road, which was a couple of inches deep in mud. However, the weather cleared at last, and for the remaining ten days of our stay it was beautiful.
My first search for butterflies was made down the valley towards Randa. I got on this occasion, besides commoner kinds, the following species : Sinapis, Hippothoé (var. Eurybia), Simplonia, Bryoniz, Eumedon, Arion, Mera, and last, but not least, a nice specimen of that fine insect Gordius, the first I had ever seen alive.
I was surprised to find Cardamines still in good condition. A few days later on I got in the same direction some Dictynna and Athalia, and two more Gordius, together with a very fine series of Delius. These last occurred close to where some strong springs issue from the mountain side, on the right bank of the river, about a mile below Zermatt. These springs saturate the ground just below the place whence they issue, and here grow a good many plants of Saxi/raga aizoides on which the larvz feed. Delius is a very easy insect to capture, as in fact are all the Swiss species of the genus.
Eumedon was one of the most plentiful of all butterflies in jthe valley, and was sure to be seen wherever Geranium sanguineum occurred. The imago is as partial to the flower of this plant as “the caterpillar is to the seed.
My most successful day was that on which I made an excursion to the Riffel Alp. The path thither leaves the village at the south end. Just beyond the village the path runs alongside the river, and I there saw several Apollos floating about, up and down the steep bank on the left, but having rarer species in view I did not attempt to make any captures.
Soon after the path enters the wood there is a small piece of grass on the left, where I saw several Crategi, and apparently in fine condition. A little beyond this, in a moist pasture to the right and close to some chalets, I took Dictynna and one or two Pales ; the latter, however, is much more abundant at higher elevations.
Between the first and second refreshment-chalets there is a considerable extent of broken rocky ground more or less covered with rhododendron scrub, and having fir-trees thinly scattered over it. Here I saw two or three Palenos careering about in the rapid style peculiar to the genus Colias. After a time one alighted, and I succeeded in netting it; it turned out to be a very fine male.
Keeping on and up, I took a short cut across a meadow or alp lying behind the second refreshment- chalet. Here Phicomine was to be seen in dozens, and in one corner of the meadow I found quite a colony of Orbitulus, a pretty little greyish-blue butter- fly which is rather local than rare. Leaving the refreshment-chalet, I did not keep to the mule-path, which here turns sharply to the left, but kept to the gully through which the old path to the Riffel Alp used to run, as I thought I might there meet with Delius ; not seeing any, however, I crossed the stream —which was:on my right—and passed up the opposite bank to the Alp above. Here Phicomine literally swarmed, and as it flew low and steadily over the short herbage, I could easily have taken scores if I had been so inclined, I did not, however, see any- thing else at all noticeable, so I re-crossed the stream and made the best of my way up some very steep slopes to the Hotel Riffel-Alp, capturing on my way a few examples of Cassiope.
After taking some refreshment I made for the ridge of the Riffel-Alp, which lies behind the hotel, and on my way up I quite unexpectedly found three examples of that rare plant Anemone Halleri, and a few late blooms of A. alpina.
When I reached the ridge I could see flying about over a higher part of it to the left, and very rapidly, some light-coloured butterflies which I could not identify, but I deferred making a closer acquaint- ance with them until I had visited a somewhat boggy corner of the Alp, which I could see some distance away in the direction of the Riffel-Berg.
Passing down ,to this corner, I saw on my way Phicomine in greater profusion than ever ; but though one would expect to see one or two good varieties where a species is so abundant, I failed to detect any here, Orbitulus, too, was plentiful, and I secured one Arcas, the only example that I saw of a very local, if not rare, butterfly.
Some little time before I reached the swampy ground, I saw an occasional Merope, but close to and flying over it the insect was in plenty, and a few minutes sufficed for capturing all that I wanted. Why Merope is not allowed specific rank I cannot
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP. 31
Imagine ; it is hardly more like Aurinia than the latter is like the female of Cynthia, the distinctness of which no one doubts for 2 moment; and the same remark applies quite as (or even more) strongly to Proyincialis and Desfontanii, two other very beautiful varieties of Aurinia, though they are very unlike the type, and still more unlike Merope. Moreover, the food-plant of Merope is said to be Primula viscosa, (though, by the way, I have great doubt as to this being so), whereas Aurinia usually feeds on Scabious and Plantain, and never, I believe, on any kind of Primula. Having done with Merope, I turned my steps towards the place where I had seen the white butterflies. On my way thither I passed over a large space of ground where &. /uzaria was growing in such profusion as I never saw elsewhere: the plants stood so thickly that it was almost impossible to put one’s foot down without treading on one ; they were, too, unusually large and robust, and oh! how different from the few puny examples I have seen growing in England of this curious little fern.
About half-way between the swamp and the ridge, my eye suddenly fell on a beautiful male Cynthia settled on the ground a yard or two away, its white checkered wings outspread after the manner of the genus. I had never seen this insect before, but there could be no mistake about its identity, for no other Swiss Melitea has any white on the wings.
Approaching carefully, I struck too hurriedly, the net hit the ground, and the prize was gone! I wasted more than an hour about the spot, but I did not get a glimpse of another specimen there. The white butterflies turned out to be Callidice, a very restless insect and a very rapid flyer, but by quietly waiting at one spot and making a rapid dash as one passed near me, I managed to net four or five, and I got two or three more by stalking them, when they settled on the ground as they occasionally did.
All the specimens were males, and in good con- dition. (A day or two later, I got half-a-dozen more above the Riffel-Berg Hotel, one of which was a female.) Whilst I was catching Callidice, I saw another Cynthia, and secured it, and subsequently I found a spot where a brood had evidently just hatched out. I got a number of fine fresh specimens, but unfortunately only one of them was a female. The white checkers are wanting in this'sex.
On another occasion, I made an excursion to the Schwartz-See for the purpose of getting Gorge, but I only saw two specimens, and one of these escaped me. I took some fine Tyndanis and Lappoda, however, and saw a few Palzno and Callidice, but on the whole this was not a successful day. My attention was turned chiefly to butterflies, but I observed a number of plants of Lioydia serotina, and of Ranun- culus rutefolia on the alps round the Schwartz-See Hotel.
We left Zermatt on the 14th July for Berisal, where I found Gordius quite plentiful. I may say here,
that this insect is far finer in colour and larger on the Italian side of the pass. A German gentleman stay- ing at Berisal made an expedition to Crevola, and returned with a fine series caught there ; it was very interesting to notice the marked difference between these, and those he had taken at Berisal. All the Swiss species of Parnassus are to be obtained here. Mnemosyne is fairly common quite close to the hotel, and is extremely abundant on the alp high above the second refuge, where I also saw Eurybia, Lathonia, Carthemi, etc.
The male of Goante is by no means uncommon on the roadside just beyond the bridge (which is about ten minutes below the hotel), but the female is rare. Hylas, Eros, Pheretes, Donzelii, Damon, Alcon, Escheri, the rare Lycidas, Parthanie, Didyma, Her- mione, and numerous commoner species may be taken on or near the roadside, between the bridge and the second refuge, but every fine day in the season witnesses several nets going all along this road, so that it would seem almost a wonder that anything should escape ; nevertheless, the species do not appear to diminish in numbers from the annual raids made on them, ’
Both Hippothoé and Virgaurex are plentiful all about Berisal, the latter being especially abundant in the rough valley which runs up from the bridge to the Bortel-Alp.
Here, too, Apollo and Dolius are common, and a few Arcas occur. High up above Berisal, on very rough stony slopes near the snow-line, I caught about a dozen Gorge, but it is a very wary insect and by no means easy to take on its favourite ground. I only saw one Cynthia, but I believe it is sufficiently abun- dant on some of the high alps above the hotel.
Besides the butterflies I have mentioned above, and the commoner kinds, I got specimens (more or less) of each of the following species: Euphemus, Asteria, Melampus, Stygne, Medusa, Celo, Euryale, Layaterz, and the pretty little Sao, which is rather common almost everywhere.
One day I explored the ground round the Hospice, but with small results ; I saw a marmot, one or two Palzno, and a few Lappona, but nothing else.
When returning to Berisal I took the low, and in some places extremely narrow, valley which runs nearly straight down from the fourth to the second refuge:
The old mule-road over the pass went through this valley; this road after eighty-five years’ disuse is still plainly marked in many places, but portions of it are nowadays extremely rough, avalanches having indeed carried it away altogether in places, and in others covered it with a chaos of withered fir-trees and enormous boulders, so that it is anything but an easy matter to get down the valley at all.
The venture was not repaying, nevertheless I got a good series of Arcania, var. Darwiniana, and a few commoner kinds.
I devoted one day to a visit to the Bel-Alp for
,
32 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
Palzeno, which I had seen there in 1890. It occurs abundantly on the slopes just below the Bel-Alp Hotel. The east side of these slopes incline steeply towards the Aletsch Glacier, which is in full view of them, and require cautious walking, They are covered with the Rhododendron scrub which Palzeus so affects. The day was not altogether auspicious, but I caught a fine series, including two lovely females. On my way down I did not keep to the path, but at first bore a good deal to the left, passing over some very broken and undulating ground where were scattered here and there a few large fir-trees. Just as I reached a little rough hillock which lay in my way, a great black wood-pecker got up from the other side, and flew leisurely to one of the fir-trees, up the trunk of which it climbed, keeping the trunk, however, between itself and me, and peeping curiously round at the stranger who had ventured to trespass on its lonely fastnesses. I think it was an old bird, for the brilliant crimson crest was very conspicuous.
Another excursion was to the Pfyn-Wald, a wood of pine-trees—interspersed with grassy spaces—which lies between Leuk and Sierre. Meleager and Sebrus are both taken there, but I was not fortunate enough to find either the one or the other. Four years ago I got a pair of Meleager there, the female being the brown variety named Steveni. The true home of this butterfly is Digne and its neighbourhood. I got one good Camilla (greatly to my surprise, as I never saw any honeysuckle in the Pfyn-Wald), a few fine Arion, some Dia and Dryas, and two or three Stella- tarum. This last insect is very abundant in the Rhone valley.
As to plants at Berisal, I saw there the rare and curious Campanula excisa ; it was abundant within a short distance of the hotel. I have never seen the plant elsewhere. All four of the Swiss’ species of Pyrola, too, occur close to the hotel, and Secunda is very plentiful and fine on the Alp; to the left—a short distance beyond the Simplon Hospice—it grows amongst the low bilberry bushes.
When we left Berisal at the end of July, we went to Aigle. Here I obtained a few Camilla, Sibylla, Quercus, W. album, Mlicis, AZthiops, ?one Althzece, (this insect in the proper season is abundant at Aigle, but I was too late for it), and about a dozen Actza var. Cordula. I saw two Iris, a butterfly which is generally abundant here, but I was not lucky enough to take any. From what I saw and heard, I think Aigle—or perhaps better still Sepey, higher up the valley towards the Diablerets—would be a capital centre for Lepidopterists; but at Aigle itself mus- quitos are very troublesome to new-comers in July and August.
There is an exceedingly rare-fern to be found near that place; I refer to Asplenium fontanum, which grows abundantly on the rocks that bound the road on the left, on the way up to Sepey. To see such a scarce plant as this in situ would repay any botanist
for the trouble of a visit to this—in spite of mus- quitos—very charming place; moreover, the hotel (Beau Site) is one that can be honestly recommended, for its comfortable arrangements and very moderate charges.
RBs R:
Eastbourne.
NOTES ON THE SITE OF HASTINGS. By T. V. HotmeEs, F.G.S.
N the present day the additions yearly made to our larger towns consist of habitations and work- shops, built on sites of very various degrees of merit or demerit. Here a healthy plateau becomes covered by ‘‘desirable villa residences ;” there, on marshes below high-water mark, appear factories and streets of small dwellings, adjoining newly-excavated docks. But an ancient town owed its existence to its natural advantages of soil and situation over all other spots in the district. The site of ancient London, for example, consists of a gravel-capped plateau close to a navigable river; water for domestic use being
- easily obtained from shallow wells, and the elevation
of the ground obviating any fear of floods, and being comparatively advantageous for purposes of defence. And the more ancient the town the more heed did its founders pay to defensive strength, either in the shape of a strong site for the town itself, or in the proximity of a naturally strong position, which. might become a refuge for women and children, and a place for the storage of valuables, during the inroad of some hostile tribe or nation.
Though the site of Hastings is very different in character from that of London, it is yet, as evidently as the great city on the Thames, a place which must have been occupied as a town from the earliest times. But the record of Hastings is not one of gradual development as that of London has been. Starting as a mere fishing-town or village, Hastings became, eight hundred years ago, the Premier Cinque Port. Centuries of decline, the result of physical changes, followed, yet during the last half-century it has so greatly extended and developed itself, that it is now much more decidedly the Premier Cinque Port than it was in the days of the Norman kings. Yet it cannot be said that the importance of Hastings Castle tended to counterbalance the destruction of its harbour, and preserve a continuity of existence to the town, For while the castle of another of the Cinque Ports, Dover, is now the centre of extensive modern fortifications, Hastings Castle was allowed to fall into decay as early as the fourteenth century.
In order to get some knowledge of the geological structure of the district immediately surrounding the town, we cannot do better than take our stand on the massive stone groyne which juts into the sea under the East Cliff of Hastings. The East Cliff is seen t o
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 33
be composed of massive sandstone, and to rise to a height of about 200 ft. Rock of a similar kind is visible in the Castle Hill; west of the valley in which the old town lies. As we look eastward, however, we notice that the sandstone beds, which form almost the whole of the East Cliff, rise gently in the direction of Fairlight Gien and Lover’s Seat, while below them a walk along the shore will reveal a greater and greater thickness of strata of a mainly clayey nature. Below Lover’s Seat there is much undercliff, and the only rocks visible are' massive sandstone capping the hill and mottled clay on the foreshore.
In this mottled clay, which belongs to the series of beds known as the Fairlight Clay, we have the lowest Strata belonging to the Hastings Sands, and the lowest visible in this south-eastern district except the Purbeck Beds near Battle. The overlying sand- stone beds of the East Cliff and Castle Hill belong to the Ashdown Sands. But a little eastward of Hastings Pier a fault, having a downthrow to the west, throws down sandstone belonging to the higher
EDCE OF OLD EARTHWORK
N.N.E.
| knoll is the castle.
which comes out to sea at Folkestone. Westward, beyond Pevensey Level, we see the South Downs jutting into the sea at Beachy Head ; for we are now on the highest point of the coast between the North and South Downs. In addition to the enjoyment of a magnificent panoramic view, we also attain to a true perception of the proportions of the great anti- clinal of the Weald, in the centre of which we are standing. It is seldom indeed that so good an opportunity occurs of noting the true nature of an important anticlinal as compared with the figures given in geological manuals.*
The second spot is Hastings Castle Hill. But the best place for a view is not within the walls of the castle, but at a point sixty or seventy yards northward. The Castle Hill, at the southern or seaward end of which the castle stands, broadens and also increases gently in height northwards. But on the southern end there is a little knoll, the sides of which become steeper and steeper towards the sea, and on this Examination of the ground
S.S.W.
Fig. 14.—Section through ancient Earth-works and Castle, Hastings.
Tunbridge Wells series against the Ashdown Beds. This fault is known as the White Rock Fault, Thus, while Hastings stands upon Ashdown Sands, its modern suburb, St. Leonards, is built chiefly on Tunbridge Wells Sand.
Two spots in this district are worthy of special mention as affording views of unusual extent and interest. The first is the coast-guard station at Fairlight. The view from this point is not so well known as might be expected, because most of the visitors to the bold and picturesque cliffs east of Hastings, whether driving or on foot, seldom go beyond Lover’s Seat. Nevertheless, the most extensive views are those obtainable after cross- ing the glen beyond zLoyer’s Seat, and ascending to the coast-guard station beyond. From St. Leonards to this point the cliffs gradually rise, while they sink with much greater rapidity hence towards Dungeness. Close to the coast-guard station the new ordnance map shows a height of 478 f. Gazing eastward, we look down on Rye and Winchelsea, and across the broad flat of Romney Marsh to the long chalk ridge of the North Downs,
shows that while the medizeval castle occupies only the southern half of the knoll, the whole of it was fortified in prehistoric times. A bank of earth of considerable height still surrounds its northern end, where the natural strength of the position is least, and dies away as the slopes steepen on the eastern and western flanks. The builders of the medizeyval castle, not wishing to occupy so much ground as the owners of the prehistoric entrench- ment, cut a deep and broad ditch across the rock from east to west, so as to separate the portion they required from the rest of the ancient stronghold, in the manner shown in the diagram section above. From the northern edge of the ancient fortress the spectator can survey, looking eastward, the ‘‘ old town” of Hastings in the valley and the East Cliff beyond. Gazing westward we may see the rest of Hastings and St, Leonards, and in the distance the long chalk ridge ending at Beachy Head. Northward the ground gradually rises, but for three or four miles
* For a full account of the geology both of Hastings and of the Weald district generally, see the “ Geological Survey Memoir.” by Mr. W. Topley.
34 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSS/P,
appear the rolling, well-wooded hills of Hastings Sand around Ore and Hollington.
As we stand on the edge of the prehistoric fortress, and, surveying the sheltered valleys on each side, remember that in addition to dry sandy soil and a little stream in both, there was also an excellent natural harbour in one of them, from some very an- cient prehistoric period down to the twelfth century, it becomes evident that Hastings must have been the site of a town from a very ancient date—a date compared with which the landing of Julius Cesar is but a modern event. That we find no mention of Hastings as a’place of importance during the Roman Occupation is only what might be expected. For we must not forget that Anderida (or Pevensey), which certainly was a Roman port, must have once possessed a very much more extensive harbour than that of Hastings, and as the two places are only eleven or twelve miles apart, if Anderida was a kind of Roman Portsmouth, Hastings is very unlikely to have held any equivalent rank.
But it also appears that, at a later date, the east- ward drift of the shingle in the English Channel had injured the more westerly harbour of Pevensey before it had begun to damage that of Hastings. This is evident from the fact that, shortly after the Norman Conquest, Hastings became the Premier Cinque Port, while Pevensey’s importance had been so much reduced that it figures simply as a ‘‘ Corporate Member” of Hastings, its head port. William the Conqueror is said, by some historians, to have landed at Pevensey ; by others, at Bulverhithe.* It appears to me that all probability is in favour of the latter spot. For to have disembarked at Pevensey would have meant the landing of the Norman army at a spot separated from the higher and drier ground around Battle and Hastings, by a breadth of three miles or more of marsh and water. The exact pro- portions of marsh and water at that time cannot be ascertained, but neither could have been desirable. Then, as just noted, the harbour at Pevensey had much degenerated in the eleventh century, a fact which must have been known to the wary and saga- cious William. But the haven at Bulverhithe, only two or three miles west of Hastings, began to de- teriorate about the same time as that of Hastings, and was probably in a better condition than Pevensey Harbour in the year 1066; and Bulverhithe was not separated by swamps from the higher ground on which the subsequent movements took place.
The decline of Hastings seems to have begun very soon after the Norman Conquest, for in the time of Henry II., Rye and Winchelsea were practically added to the Cinque Ports, to “‘ complete the num- ber of the twenty Hastings ships.”+ I have already mentioned that the harbour which gave Hastings its
* The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle leaves this point uncertain. + “The Cinque Ports” (Historic Towns Series), p. 70, by Professor Montagu Burrows.
position as a port during the reign of the] Norman kings was in the valley west of the Castle, commonly called the Priory Valley. Its former position may easily be detected in the present day. At White Rock Place on the west, and at the Castle Hill east- ward, the cliffs come close to the beach. Between the spots, just named, there is a broad, flat shingle- covered area, occupied by Carlisle Parade, Robertson Street, Trinity Church, the Memorial Clock-tower, etc. The streets which diverge from the Clock- tower in a north-easterly or north-westerly direction begin to rise at a very short distance from that monu- ment, the rise in the ground marking the limits of the shingle flat. But if we go due north of the Clock- tower to the cricket-ground, we enter an open space of six acres,*a few feet below the level of the shingle flat, and see at once that we are standing on the site of the silted-up ancient harbour of the Premier Cinque Port. The broad shingle flat southward must have covered a considerable breadth of ground soon after the Conquest ; for on it a Priory of Austin Canons was founded in the reign of Richard I., and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, from which it would seem that at that time the shingle was considered to be a per- manent addition to the land. But we learn, that in consequence of the gradual encroachments of the sea, the Priory buildings were inundated and their inmates compelled to abandonthem. Sir John Pelham, how- ever, gave them lands at Warbleton, near Heathfield, to which they retired in the reign of Henry IV. No doubt, a long period in which the deposition of shingle had been slow and gradual was succeeded by others of alternating gain and loss of land, the former, on the whole, predominating. The effect of the action of the sea on the coast is, speaking generally, to reduce the prominence of promontories, and to fill up bays with silt and shingle. But a result of storms is occasionally the sweeping away of large quantities of shingle from a spot where it has been gradually accumulating, and its deposition elsewhere. The material thus removed is, “however, usually soon replaced by fresh deposits from the same quarter. The history of any considerable breadth of coast is sure to offer some striking examples of the changes: which may be suddenly produced after a long period of comparative quiescence. For example, the old — ordnance map of the coast of West Hampshire and East Dorset, on which the work of the Geological Survey has been done, shows the mouth of Christ- church Harbour as nearly the same distance from Hengistbury Head, on the south, as from the land on the northern flank of the harbour. But in 1880, owing, I believe, to the (then) recent removal of masses of ironstone from Hengistbury Head, I saw that shingle had come round the promontory in such abundance as to deflect the mouth ‘of the harbour about a mile and a half eastward. In 1888, the mouth was almost in the position it had occupied © when the map was made, storms having combined
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSI/P. 35
with the natural tendency of the channel of the Stour and Ayon, to breach the shingle bank near the former place of outfall.
In the case of Hastings, it is evident that during the ages when it possessed an excellent harbour in the Priory Valley, scarcely any shingle could have been deposited about the harbour’s mouth. This was probably due chiefly to two influences. Firstly, the deposition of immense quantities of eastward- travelling shingle in Pevensey Bay. Secondly, the retention of a large proportion of the rest by the island (about one-and-half miles long, and half a mile broad), shown on Norden’s map of Sussex (1616) and on Morden’s map half a century later, as existing off the coast of St. Leonards. This island has since gradually disappeared. But if, as is highly probable, it was, previous to the Norman Conquest, both larger and closer to the mainland than in Norden’s time, vast quantities of shingle must then have been re- tained on its western side. At a later date, the shingle, instead of being retained by the island or progressing round its southern coast to places east- ward of Hastings, would pass between the island and the shore, and be deposited largely in the Priory Valley. The effect on the harbour of Hastings of the reduction in size and ultimate destruction of this island, must have been similar to that which would occur at Portland Harbour as the result of a breach in the Chesil Bank.
At the time of the Domesday Survey, the town in the Priory Valley had dwindled almost to nothing, while the New Burgh of-Hastings, in the Eastern or Bourne valley, had begun to flourish. But the Bourne Valley evidently never possessed a natural basin comparable to that which once existed west of the Castle Hill. So generally does the importance of the earliest of the harbours of Hastings seem to have been forgotten, that in Horsfield’s ‘‘ History of Sussex,” (1835), the Priory Harbour is not men- tioned, but we read that in ancient days Hastings is said to have had a good harbour formed by a large wooden pier, which projected from the centre of the Marine Parade in a south-east direction. (The Marine Parade is a little east of the Castle Hill.) But in Queen Elizabeth’s reign this pier was ‘de- stroyed by astorm. As late as the year 1834, it was proposed that a harbour should be formed westward of the Priory Bridge, which, judging from a map showing Hastings about the year 1820, must have stood close to the site of the Clock-tower. But nothing was done.
The visitor to Hastings, who now looks down from the old entrenchment on Castle Hill, must then re- member that the western valley, in which all the buildings are more or less new, is the site of oldest Hastings, while the much more ancient-looking town in the eastern valley is, nevertheless, the ‘‘ New Burgh.” But though the former existence of the oldest town is almost forgotten, and though Horsfield,
speaking of the parish of Holy Trinity, says that the Priory Farm forms the greater part of this district, and that up to the year 1800 the remaining part was waste and unoccupied, yet in the revived site of old Hastings, and not in the New Burgh, are now to be seen the most attractive shops, and the densest throngs of visitors. Nor is any place of amusement more popular in the summer months than the cricket-ground on the site of the once-famous harbour of the Premier Cinque Port.
THE BRITISH PERLIDA OR STONE- FLIES.
By W. H. NuNNEY.
HE insects forming the subject of this short essay are a transition group of the Perenni- branchiate division of the Pseudo-Neuroptera, con- necting the cockroaches and crickets of the Orthoptera with the neuropterous Ephemeridz or May-flies. Christened Perlidze by systematic naturalists, they are popularly known in this country by the collective names of stone-flies, pearl-flies, and water-crickets, this last name, however, being of American origin. Popular names have also been given to the better- known species by anglers, who frequently utilise these insects as an attractive bait for trout and other fishes.
In Britain, at least, the Perlide have attracted little attention, the Neuroptera generally having but few students. . This neglect is doubtless, in a measure, accounted for by the habits of the creatures them- selves, their mostly small size and sombre colour. No really trustworthy guide to the native species has been published in English; indeed, the literature relating to the group is comparatively meagre, and, with the exception of Professor Pictet’s fine but costly work on the subject in French, is widely scattered in various general entomologies and periodicals. Such being the case, it is hardly neces- sary for me to offer any apology for the present paper, written as it is with the idea of providing a ready index to the indigenous species of this family, and thus inducing British entomologists to elucidate much that in the history of the group is still obscure.
The difficulties which stand in the way of a student of the group are, unfortunately, not few. The non- existence of good typical collections open to general view, and the want in our public libraries of several of the most important works of reference, as well as minor difficulties, combine to render research much harder than should be the case. The present author has, so far as possible, worked out the synonomy of species (this is, however, not given here for fairly obyious reasons) ; but, in some instances, not having been able to refer to the original types, errors must almost unavoidably have creptin. As Mr. McLachlan (the British authority on all matters neuropterological)
36 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSTP.
remarked to me some while since, nothing of any permanent value in this direction can be done, unless Professor Pictet’s types at Geneva, and the types of other nomenclators of the Perlidz elsewhere, undergo a most searching examination. I had hoped that Mr. McLachlan himself would render the scientific world still more deeply indebted to him, by mono- graphing the British species of the family, but as he has published no such work, he probably thinks that the time is not yet ripe for such a performance.
The Perlidz have been found in Britain in a fossil condition, specimens having occurred, though some- what rarely, in the strata of the Upper Eocene forma- tion. In all probability they will at some future period be proved to be of far earlier origin than is at present supposed, as their anatomical structure points to a primitive organization. 4
The earlier naturalists confounded the Perlidz with
many respects bear a great resemblance to the perfect insects, are usually found in running water ; some species prefer that which is almost or quite Stagnant, and others find rapidly-moving streams more suited to their mode of life. Their elongated bodies terminate usually in two many-jointed fila- ments, which, however, become atrophied in certain species, as they attain their adult state. The large head is scaly, and is but poorly provided with masti- catory organs, these serving but little for purposes. either of attack or defence. Their forms vary slightly in the different sections.
These larvee breathe usually by means of sacs attached to the underside of the thorax, these sacs having some resemblance to the organs performing a similar function in Sialid, Phryganid, and Ephemerid larvee.
The Perlina larve do not, as was once thought,
Fig. 15.—Perla maxima, X 4: ¢, costa; s.c., suk-costa ;
the caddis-flies, with which, hcwever, they have but little in common. © The larve were supposed to possess a like economy to that of Phryganid larve, long after one Muraldt gave in 1683 a detailed account, accompanied with figures, of the transforma- tions of Perla marginata, in a now rare Latin book entitled, ‘‘The Ephemeris of Natural Curiosities.” Even the illustrious Linné classed the Perlidz with Phryganide. The perfect insects of the Perlidze may at once be distinguished from the caddis-flies by the non-possession of any decided hairy covering to the wings, and by the very distinct segmentation of the thorax, which islof greater comparative width than is usual with the Phryganide. Other distinctive characters are—the possesssion of mandibles and three-jointed tarsi in the Perlidz, whereas the caddis- flies are without mandibles and have tarsi composed of five joints.
The larve, which, together with the pupz, in
(Originai.)
wi, medius; s.7#., sub-medius; a, anal vein.
construct cases wherein to perform their transforma- tions, and from which they may seize the unwary larvee of May-flies and other aquatic insects which form their food-supply. Their habit is to lie in wait behind stones and water-reeds, ‘‘on murderous. thought intent,” to surprise and secure their prey. The more brightly-coloured of them effectually con- ceal their whereabouts from most of their enemies by covering their bodies with a layer of mud.
The pupa resembles the larva, except that it is. possessed of rudimentary wing-scales of a leathery texture. When the time arrives forthe final change to take place, it leaves the water, and seeks a suitable spot in which to undergo its transformation. With its sharp claws it takes firm hold of the stone or other resting- place fro zem., and, the skin splitting along the back,. the insect emerges, having, with the possession of four reticulated wings, obtained its highest development.
The perfect insects of both sexes are very inert,
HARDWICKE’S SCLENCE-GOSSTP.
37
flying seldom, and then but heavily, and only for short distances, the wings, especially those of the males (which are usually very short, and in some species reduced to mere rudiments), being of little use for purposes of aérial locomotion. The female, after coupling, deposits her eggs, which remain for a time attached to the end of her abdomen, in stagnant or running water, this being according to the predeter- mined habits of the species. She then, together with the male, does not survive the commencement of the new developmental cycle entered upon by the extmded ova.
Now, as to collecting. Search should be made for the laryz and pupz with a water-net—at weir-heads
fe
Fig. 16.—Perla maxima.
Fig. _:7.—Chloroperia grammatica.
Fig. 18.—Dictyopteryx microcephala.
and slight falls ‘of water where the flow is rapid, on stones by the water-side, and in any place that may suggest itself to the collector as a likely haunt for these insects. The imagines may be readily captured both whilst in flight, and when at rest on the ground or on palings, or trunks of trees in the immediate vicinity of the water in which the previous portion of their existence was passed. Beating, as for Coleop- tera, may also be employed, with every chance of making captures.
A few words on rearing and preservation. The majority of the Perlina are difficult to rear in captivity, as many of the insects in their earlier states require a constant supply of running water. Some species of Nemourine may, however, be bred through in an
ordinary aquarium, or failing that, in a jar, provided there be a plentiful store of suitable food.
Larvee and pupz may be preserved for the cabinet in phials or test-tubes filled either with pure or carbo- lized glycerine, or the microscopist’s mounting medium known as ‘‘ Goadby’s Fluid,” as this mode of treatment prevents the alteration of form and colour so prevalent when these laryee are allowed to dry. Kerosene and benzoline-are also useful pre- servatives. Ido not advocate the use of spirits of wine, as by it the delicate colours of the insects are modified or entirely ‘destroyed, though the form remains unaltered. As regards the perfect insects, the ordinary modes of preservation may be adhered
a
Fig. 19.—Jsogenus nubecula. — Be Fig. 20.—Isopteryx tripunctata-
GE,
Fig. 21.—Capuia nigra.
Fig. 22.—Teniopteryx nebulosa.
Fig. 23.—WNemoura variegata.
Fig. 24.—Leuctra fusciventris.
to. Some specimens of each species should, however, be put up in phials filled with glycerine or other pre- servative fluid, to prevent as much as possible the fading of the colours. A supply of test-tubes should be taken to the collecting-ground, so that individuals of each species may be placed in fluid as soon as they are captured. P
In labelling these tubes, it is advisable to prepare two labels, bearing parallel information relating to name, date, and place of capture, etc. One of these labels should be attached to the outside of the tube, and the other enclosed with the specimens.
All pinned specimens intended for the cabinet should be set as soon as possible after capture. The wings of some species, if allowed to become dry, cling
38
HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
so around the body, on the insects being relaxed, that it is almost impossible to separate them without doing considerable damage to their delicate membranes.
Having now given the above general information, and as it will be necessary to explain the application of the technical names given to the various portions of the wings of the Perlina, I cannot do better than reproduce, at this place, the note on the subject given in Mr, F, Walker’s ‘‘ Catalogue of Neuroptera in the British Museum.” This will enable the intending student to understand the synopsis and descriptions of genera that follow.
“*The five principal veins of each wing are :—1, the costa, which forms the fore-border ; 2, the sub-costa, which is parallel to the costaand not far from it ; (3), the medius, which springs directly from the side of the sub-costa, is in juxtaposition with it for a small space, then diverging, divides the wing into: two almost equal parts, and is bifurcate at two-thirds of its length ; (4), the sub-medius, which springs near the internal angle of the wing, and terminates in the middle of the hind-border, and is bifurcated very near its beginning, its fore-branch forming the anterior sub-medius, and its hind-branch the posterior sub- medius ; (5), the anal vein, which is near the base, has a short course, and of which it is often difficult to distinguish between the principal and secondary branches. These veins divide the wing into four principal regions, which are thus named: (1), the marginal region, comprised between the costal and sub-costal veins; (2), the sub-marginal region, between the medius and the anterior sub-medius ; (3), the median region, between the medius and the anterior sub-medius; (4), the anal region, which contains all the internal part of the wing between the lower sub-median vein and the anal angle, and in which the vein of the same name ramifies. There is, besides, the sub-median areolet, between the branches of the sub-median vein. The principal line of trans- verse veins, or Parastigma, divides the first, second, and third regions into two parts, the basal and ter- minal part. The basal part of the marginal region is divided longitudinally into parts by the vein accessory to the costal, and thus contains three principal areolets, the external basal areolet, the internal basal ar€olet, and the terminal areolet. In the hind-wings the sub-marginal region is divided longitudinally by a vein accessory to the median-vein, not by one accessory to the sub-costal.” This description is a general one, including all the members -of the group. ‘The several generic variations are shown in the accompanying illustrations, a reference to which will greatly assist a right understanding of the text. The venation is perhaps the most useful character upon which to base a classification of the Perlidz, notwithstanding individual variations, but a closer comparison than has yet been made of the anal and other appendages might possibly afford sure points for the identification of species. Mr. McLachlan
considers Pictet’s terminology defective, and holds that ‘‘the nervure accessory to \the costal” is the true sub-costal. As, however, Pictet’s nomenclature amply serves my purpose in the present’ paper, I merely note the disparity and pass on.
The following synopsis of sub-families, genera, and species, although of course not absolutely perfect, is, I venture to think, sufficiently reliable for the purpose of enabling the student to identify with certainty, and with but little trouble, any of our native stone- flies of which descriptions have been published. Although I am confident of there being several undescribed British species in collections to which I have access, and elsewhere, I prefer not to publish descriptions of them until my knowledge of the group is augmented.
In the following table capitals refer to sub-families and genera; italics indicate species, which follow under their respective generic heads.
GENERAL CHARACTERS.—Eody depressed, elongated ; sides parallel, or nearly so; prothorax large; antennz long, seta- ceous; wings unequal, posterior ones broader than the anterior; tarsi three-jointed; two abdominal sete usually present: PERLIDA.
CHARACTERS OF FAMILIES, GENERA, AND SPECIES.
. Tail bristles present. bap pore GOMES . Palpi setaceous: Sub-Fam. 1, PERLINA. . Anal region of hind-wings large. . Terminal part of submarginal region divided by cross veins: DicTyorpTERYX. Veins of submarginal region very regular, forming square cells: Rectangula. Veins of submarginal region irregular; cells seldom square: Microcephaia. . Terminal part of submarginal region not divided by cross veins. F. Marginal terminal areolet with at least two cross veins. . Accessory veintof sub costa much branched and very irregular: IsoGENus. Front wholly black; a brown costal cloud above middle of wings: Nudecula. Accessory vein of subcosta without branches or with one or two regular bifurcations: PERLA. Prothorax spotted with black: Maxima. a unicolorous brown. 5s large, wider than the head: Marginata. a small, narrower than the head: Cephadotes Marginal terminal areolet with but one cross=vein, beyond which the accessory vein terminates at the costal vein: CHLOROPERLA. V-mark on head with a transverse band behind: Rwulorum. V-mark on head isolated, without band: Grammatica. Anal region of hind-wings almost wanting : IsoprERYx No spots between the ocelli: Torrentium. Small black spots between the ocelli: Burmezsterz. Prothorax small, wholly yellow: Afzcadis. oe medium-sized, caudal setz entirely yellow: Tripunctata. . Palpi filiform. . Tail bristles long: Sub-Fam. CAPNIINE. Tips of wings without cross veins: CAPNIA. Dark shining brown, with middle of abdomen yellow: Nigra. . Tail bristles rudimentary or wanting: Sub-Fam. NEMOURIN. I. Veins of parastigma not forming an X. Tail bristles rudimentary: Ta2NIOPTERYX. Wing fasciz indistinct, or less in number than three, Femora brown; wings opaque: WVedzdosa. Wing fasciz never less than three; distinct in female, faint in male: 77</asczata. Labial palpi very short, placed far apart: LEUCTRa. Prothorax long, constricted in front and behind; abdomen pale, yellow above: Geniculata. Prothorax with three elevated longitudinal lines; an- tennz wholly blackish, feet and wings brown: Fusciventris. BBBB. Tail bristles wanting.
Boop
GG.
FF.
DD.
HARDWICKE S SCLENCE-GOSSIP. 39
II. Veins of parastigma forming an X. HH. Labial palpi short, near together: NEMOURA.
Prothorax a little longer than wide; meso and meta- thorax with central notch ; antennz yellow at base; wings brownish grey, veins darker: Vaviegaza.
Antenne wholly black; wings white, clouded with grey: Meyerz.
Prothorax as wide as long, shining; wing veins edged with dark grey: Nztida.
Prothorax longer than wide; head and antennz light brown ; feet pale: Cizerea.
Posterior femora wholly dark brown; wings opaque with the base yellow: Huseralis.
Shining black; prothorax rugose, with a dorsal fur- row; legs and feet dark; wings brownish with darker veins: Szdcicollis.
Dark shining brown; antennz with a slight pile; feet pale; wings semi-transparent, veins pale: Jzcoz- Spicua.
(Zo be continued.)
NEO-DARWINISM. By A. G. TANSLEY.
IV.—THE HypoTHEsIs OF CONTINUITY APPLIED TO THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM OF HERE- DITARY TRANSMISSION.
E must now consider more fully Mr. Galton’s and Professor Weismann’s theories of heredity—the two theories which explain the problem of transmission by supposing that the substance which is the specific bearer of hereditary tendencies is continuous from generation to generation. And it must be again insisted that Mr. Galton’s theory is not practically identical with Professor Weismann’s, as has been stated * ; nor is it a mere modification of Mr. Darwin’s, as has also been stated. +
To put it briefly, it differs from the former by its “* preformational” character, and from the latter by its substitution of continuity for redevelopment. Hence, though it stands intermediate between these two theories, it differs from both in important respects.
It occupies an extremely important place in the development of thought on the question of the mecHanism of heredity, through having first stated in 2 precise manner this idea of continuity.
Mr. Galton’s profound anthropological studies convinced him that the phenomena of the trans- mission of inherent or congenital characters were che important phenomena of heredity which required explanation, and this caused him to formulate the hypothesis of the continuity of residual gemmules as the main idea of his theory. Mr. Darwin, it is true, was compelled to suppose that certain of his gemmules remained latent for many generations, in order to explain the facts of atavism, but the phenomena which Pangenesis was especially devised to explain were, as we have seen, the supposed transmission of acquired characters. Mr. Galton, on the other hand, while accepting the Pangenetic
* Wallace’s ‘‘ Darwinism,” p. 443.
F Poulton. Note in Weismann’s ‘‘Essays on Heredity,” P- 173; and Lloyd Morgan’s “‘ Animal Life and Intelligence,” P- 135-
explanation of the few cases in which he thinks such transmission probable, relies on the theory of con- tinuity to explain the main facts of heredity. It is obvious indeed that the assumption of the continuity of a certain amount of germ-substance is necessary to explain the latency of characters for one or more generations. Darwin, as we have seen, recognised this in his atavistic gemmules. But the question which we have to face now is, whether this assump- tion cannot and ought not to be carried farther, so as to make it the central idea of our theory of hereditary transmission.
Mr. Galton goes so far as to say that it is ‘indeed hard to find evidence of the power of the personal structure to react upon the sexual elements that is not open to serious objection ;” and ‘“‘we might almost reserve our belief that the structural cells can react on the sexual elements at all.” Nothing can be clearer than his recognition of the ability of the theory of continuity to explain the main facts_of heredity.
Professor Weismann was led to exactly the same conclusion from general biological evidence, but his theory took a different form, partly from its having been promulgated nine years later than Mr. Galton’s —during which time the ceaseless activity of research had brought to light many new facts—and partly from his attention not having been chiefly concen- trated on anthropological phenomena.
Mr. Galton conceives of the body as consisting of ‘organic units,” each of which he thinks must have had a separate origin. Hence he conceives of the germ substance (stirp), of every fertilised ovum as consisting of an enormous number of gemmules, and each *‘ organic unit ” of the body as being represented by one or more of these gemmules. In this way only does he conceive it possible to understand how a child can inherit minute features, some from one parent and some from the other (particulate inherit- ance). But it is not clear that Mr. Galton is correct in arguing from such phenomena to the existence of separate organic ‘‘gemmules.” It is doubtless true that the separate ‘‘ potentialities”’ (using this term in its widest sense) of the various minute features must exist, but since the features themselves are only the final outcome of a long course of ontogenetic development, it is quite possible that they may all exist in the germ simply as differences of mutual arrangement and as differences of motion of the parts of a specific substance (the germ-plasm of Weismann). Still, there is no doubt that Mr. Galton’s gemmules are very much easier to deal with, and much clearer conceptions can be formed of the manner in which they are supposed to behave. Nevertheless, as we shall see presently, it seems on the whole more probable that they do not really exist, but that we must conceive of the ‘‘ germ- plasm” as containing the potentialities of the organism. Admitting, however, for the present, the
40 HARDWICKE’S SCIENCE-GOSSIP.
existence of Mr. Galton’s gemmules, let us see how he explains the processes of heredity.
Of the whole collection of gemmules in the stirp of any organism, derived from various ancestors in various proportions, comparatively few achieve de- velopment. Of the few which do, each