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FLIES IN AMBER.

UR lady friends and readers perhaps know more about the æsthetic merits of amber than we do. They (and those of their gentlemen friends who like their amber clouded in the mouthpieces of their expensive meerschaums) may not, however, be so familiar with its geological and mineralogical origin as other people. Seaside visitors to the eastern coasts frequently find it worth their while to come from great distances and pay very expensive prices for lodgings in the summer time in order to stroll upon the beach, if haply they may pick up three halfpenny worth of amber between dinner and tea. Amber has very nearly the specific gravity of seawater, and, if it does not float, is easily drifted along from the Baltic to our eastern coast, but many splendid specimens are picked up along the seaward margin of the Eastern counties. A magnificent collection of specimens of amber, which floated hitherwards from its parent bed, is now in the possession of Mr. W. D. Sims, of Ipswich.

Many people may neither know nor care to know that amber is a fossil gum which exuded from pines and other trees two millions of years ago. They may not be acquainted with the fact that the great storehouse of genuine amber, not the artificial muck the youngest smoker admires and proudly displays, comes from the bed of the Baltic Sea, and frequently contains the remains of various kinds of insects, which lived here during the middle period, as well as leaves, petals of flowers, and other floral organs, just as another Tertiary formation shows. This is nevertheless correct; and a bit of genuine amber in the lump is a most interesting geological specimen-frequently a perfect nest of fossilised flies which were attracted to the amber when it was a sweet and liquidlyflowing gum, and then and there got entangled in it as summer-flies in treacle, so as to suggest the poet's conundrum that—

The thing itself is neither rich nor rare,
The wonder's how the devil they got there.

In the last number but one of the "Annals and Magazines of Natural History" there is a paper by Herr Richard Klebs, of Konigsberg, on "The Fauna of Amber." The metropolis of the genuine Baltic trade is at Konigsberg, so there is ample opportunity for the professor to study an abundance of specimens. He has been engaged twelve years on this special subject, during which, he tells us, several hundred thousand species of amber passed through his hands, and of these he has arranged and catalogued about 25,000 selected specimens. In addition to the Konigsberg collection, Mr. Klebs selected, arranged, and catalogued another belonging to the Prussian Government, containing 12,000 specimens of amber. Only those familiar with the slow and tedious (although delightful) process of classificatory

arrangement know what trouble and pains all this involved.

Mr. Klebs (to sum up a long and necessarily technically abtruse paper-all the more scientifically valuable on that account) is able largely to contribute to our entomological knowledge the evolution of many modern groups of insects. In amber, for instance, are found kinds which are intermediate between gnats and the brachypterous, or short-winged flies. Perhaps we know more of the early history of those highly-celebrated insects, the ants, from their fossilised appearance in amber than from any other contributing geological source. Among the fossil insects imprisoned in amber, we learn that the twowinged flies, of which our too-attentive house-fly is a familiar example (Diptera), is most numerously represented. It always has been, even before the days of "fly-papers." Mr. Klebs has made the acquaintance of 20,000 of them in amber alone. What a geological immortality! It is pleasant to find that fossil-lice are not numerous in amberthey reserved their numerical abundance to a later stage of the Tertiary period. Gnats and mosquitoes also "lay low" during the Miocene epoch. Those filmy-winged, flower-evolving insects (Hymenoptera) are very frequently found in amber. What a lifehistory is theirs! If only some accurate and true scientific entomologist arise a prophet who had knowledge enough to gaze from the top of Pisgah, not only from the presentment of the Promised Land, but on the "backward track " (Phylogeny) of the forty years' wanderings in the wilderness! Professor Klebs' paper is practically all this and more. Among his studies of fossilised amber are 4000 enclosed beetles, 5000 members of the Neuroptera (or white ant and dragonfly family), 2500 specimens of Orthoptera (cockroaches, crickets, locusts, earwigs), and lastly Mantido (or leaf-insects). The reader would hardly imagine that the amber specimens include more than one thousand sorts of butterflies and moths. Then come fossil amber bugs, plant-lice, or aphides (who would imagine the latter were living millions of years before men and women?). Centipedes, "saw-flies," spiders (2500 specimens) are found in amber; they came after the Mes, just as the flies were after the sweet gum, and shared the same glorious fate and immortality. A few land-snails are also found, thanks to their sluggish habits. There is sometimes the feather of a bird, the scales of a lizard, and other odds and ends. But what a recording angel a lump of amber may be, and what a host of important suggestions hang to and cluster by the above matterof-fact discoveries!

J. E. TAYLOR.

MR. C. H. H. WALKER, 12 Church Street, Liverpool, has constructed a new slide cabinet, made more especially for biological and medical students, and issued, post free, at 4s. 6d.

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

RECENTLY a baby seal was born in the Blackpool Aquarium. It is said to be the first seal born in this country in captivity. Unfortunately it was stillborn; had it lived, the value of the event would have been still greater to the company. But, as it is, the -occurrence is one well worthy of note on account of its "uniqueness."

IT is with much sadness we have to record the death of an eminent scientist and occasional contributor, Dr. James Croll, author of "Climate and Time," "Stellar Evolution," &c. Dr. Croll rose from being janitor at Glasgow University to being an Hon. LL.D. of the same.

ANYBODY desiring to know the history and botanical associations of that popular flower the carnation, should read Mr. F. N. William's paper in The Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society" (Part 3, vol. xii.), entitled "The Carnation from a Botanical Point of View."

A USEFUL contribution to the wants of book. seekers and collectors is the last published catalogue of Messrs. Doulan & Co., relating to "Zoological and Palæontogical Works" offered for sale by this well-known firm. A new periodical has recently been issued, entitled "The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation."

"THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL " is now the proud name given to the alliance of the ancient journals entitled "Wesley Naturalists' Societies," and "Postal Microsopical Society." Both did good and honour. able work; but the Philistines are usually opposed to Samson! Now we cordially recommend to our readers the first part of a New Series: "The International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science; The Postal Microscopical and Wesley Naturalists' Societies' Journals," price 6d., edited by Alfred Allen, and the Rev. W. Spiers (London: Baillière, Tindall & Co.).

WE are glad to draw the attention of our readers to the recently published Catalogue of Messrs. Dulau & Co., 37, Soho Square, London, devoted to general Zoology and Paleontology.

THE Literary and Philosophical Club, 28 Berkeley Square, Bristol, was formally opened on January Ist. Nearly five hundred members have already joined, and it is to be hoped that the club will become a literary and scientific centre for Bristol and its neighbourhood. Public lectures will be given at intervals under the auspices of the club. The first President is Mr. Lewis Fry, M.P., and Mr. Henry A. Francis holds the office of Honorary Secretary.

MESSRS. Swan Sonnenschein & Co. have just published a cheap and excellent and highly useful

pamphlet, written by Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, entitled, "The British Naturalist Catalogue of the Land and Freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles, with all the Named Varieties."

MESSRS. WESLEY & SON's last Natural History Circular is devoted chiefly to works and papers on Mollusca and Molluscoidea.

Mr. R. G. MASON has just brought out a cheap and useful, as well as highly ingenious combination of a lantern with a microscope. The combination enables the lecturer to exhibit microscopic objects to an audience. The combination can be easily dissevered, and the microscope used as such in the ordinary fashion.

AT the beginning of February perhaps the most important sale of high-class natural history books which has occurred for many years, is announced to take place at Messrs. Hodgson's Literary Sale Rooms, which many of our readers would like to be informed about. Catalogues can be obtained of Mr. W. P. Collins, 157 Great Portland Street, London. The collection is stated to be rich in sets of scientific journals, such as Journals and Transactions of the Linnæan and Microscopical Societies, "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," "Archiv. für Mikroskopische Anatomie," "American Naturalist," and many other valuable English and foreign serials. The collection of separate monographs is particularly rich in microscopy, entomology, invertebrate zoology generally, and botany. There is also a large collection of pamphlets covering every branch of natural science, classified and arranged according to subjects. The Polyzoa, Protozoa, Arachnida, &c., are said to be very complete.

MICROSCOPY.

THE VERTICAL CAMERA.—I infer from Mr. Simmons' description of his instrument (SCIENCEGOSSIP, Jan. 1891), that it, is the Zeiss camera lucida which he refers to, and as I have used this apparatus successfully for some time, perhaps I can give him some little assistance. In the ordinary camera lucidas the object to be drawn is projected upon the paper which lies behind the microscope, the instrument being placed in a horizontal position. In the Zeiss camera, however, the image of the paper is thrown upon the stage of the microscope, and the object appears to be lying upon the paper, so that the drawing can be made with ease as the pencil appears to be upon the actual object instead of following a projected image of it. The neutral tint reflectors, Wollaston and other forms of cameras, require the microscope in a horizontal position, and the eye looks straight downwards upon the drawing-paper; the worst position for head and eye, and the most uncomfortable that can be assumed. But with the

Zeiss instrument the microscope may be at any chosen angle, and this is where its greatest advantage lies. In working, I use a small drawing-board, made so that it can be arranged at any angle. Setting the microscope with the tube at about 45°, I place the drawing-board on the right hand side, level with and on the same plane as the microscope stage, and the paper placed directly under the centre line of the mirror attached to the camera. The following points should be attended to: (1) The angle of the drawingboard should be exactly the same as that of the microscope stage, and the centre of the drawing should be under the centre line of the camera mirror, otherwise there will be distortions in the drawings, as Mr. Simmons found, and the picture will be out of proportion. (2) The drawing should be on a level with the microscope stage, that is, the distance between the camera mirror and the drawing paper should be the same as between the eye-piece of the stage, if the magnification is required to be the same in drawing as under the microscope. (3) The light on the object and that on the drawing-paper should, in neither case, be so bright or so dull that one obcures the other, or either the paper will be too dark and the pencil point lost, or in the other case, the paper will be so illuminated that the object will disappear altogether. A little practice will, however, soon enable the respective lights to be arrived at easily; that upon the stage being modified in the usual way from the lamp, and that upon the paper by means of the neutral tint glasses supplied with the camera lucida. I have found that blackening the pencil point enables its being more easily seen against the white paper.-M. L. Sykes, Patricroft.

POCKET-LENS.-Would some reader kindly tell me how I can ascertain the magnifying power of a single (pocket) lens? When I place it upon an object, I want to know how many times that object is magnified?-W. F. Kelsey, Maldon.

MOUNTING COCHINEAL INSECTS.-There is one thing I should like to draw attention to, and that is the mounting of sections (cochineal) so as to show the little purple granules, containing the colouring matter. I have tried nearly every kind of liquid, but find that in every case the colour is extracted and mingled with the fluid, thus ruining the specimens at once. The' only thing I find I can use is turpentine, which preserves them splendidly, but the puzzle is what cement can be used to contain the turpentine? Perhaps some correspondents could give hints concerning this, which I think would prove useful to others as well as myself.-H. Durrant.

LAND AND FRESHWATER SHELLS.-Will any Conchological readers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP kindly oblige with particulars of the distribution of the Mollusca in the home counties? Is there any published list obtainable?-Charles Pannall, Junr., East Street, Haslemere.

ZOOLOGY.

THE "Proceedings" of the Liverpool Geological Society contain the following addresses and papers :By the President, "On the Life of the English Trias"; "Notes on the Geological Excursion to Anglesey," by T. M. Reade; "Glacial Moraines," by L. Cumming; "Note on a Liverpool Boulder," by T. M. Reade; "The Contorted Schists of Anglesea," by Dr. C. Ricketts; "Microscopical Examinations of Two Glacial Boulders," by J. E. George ;. "On a Recent Discovery of a new Bone Cave at Deep Dale, near Buxton," by J. J. Fitzpatrick; "An Examination of a Few Anglesea Rocks," by P. Holland and E. Dickson, &c.

THE

Transactions of the Penzance Natural. History Society" include the following papers, besides reports of excursions, &c. :-"The Presidential Address" of the Right Hon. L. H. Courtenay; "The Flora of Guernsey compared with that of West Cornwall," by E. D. Marquand; "Foreign Plantsin West Cornwall," by W. A. Glasson; "Plantsgrowing in Tresco Abbey Gardens,". by A. H. Teague (this collection of living plants on a small island is one of the most wonderful facts in horticulture); Mr. Teague also contributes a paper on "Starch as a Vegetable Production."

THE first Part of the "South Eastern Naturalist "" is published as the Journal of the Associated Natural History Societies of the south-east of England. Among the chief papers in this first and well-edited number are the following:-" Life History of the Giant Hogweed," by J. Reid; "Beds between Chalk and London Clay," by George Dowker ; "Notes on the Great Pipe Fish," by G. Dowker ;, "Leaf Fungi of 1889 in the Neighbourhood of Dover," by W. T. Haydon; "The Otolithes of Fishes," by Sydney Webb; "A Neolithic Find near Dover," by W. T. Haydon, &c.

BLACK-NECKED Grebe.-A fine specimen of the eared or black-necked grebe (P. Nigricollis) was shot. on the Ouse, near York, October 23rd, and brought to me in the flesh. It has since been stuffed and set up by Helstrip, bird and animal preserver of this city. Messrs Clarke & Roebuck, in their 1881 edition of the "Yorkshire Naturalists' Handbook," record this species as having occurred in Yorkshire on eight. occasions. The bird is now in my possession.William Hewett.

A NEW BRITISH WORM.-The Rev. Hilderic: Friend, F.L.S., has recently discovered a new and curious British worm, first described in 1851 by Dr. Grube from a single Siberian specimen under the name of Lumbricus multispinus. On account of its difference:

in structure it was removed by Vaillant from the genus Lumbricus, and made the representative of a new genus called Echinodrilus. The worm is only an inch in length when full grown, and has from three to six setæ in each group, four of which groups or combs are placed on each segment save the first. It is abundant in the one locality where it is at present known to occur. The worm is being figured or described elsewhere.

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THE COLOURS OF SHELLS.-In reply to Mr. Barnes, the only publications on this subject, besides those published by myself (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, August, 1890, and "Naturalists' Gazette," July and August, 1890, with a note in the "Zoologist" the year before last), Mr. Pace's note (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, September, 1890), and Mr. Fryer's article (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, November, 1890), known to me are as follows:Mr. T. D. A. Cockerell, SCIENCE-GOSSIP, January, 1888 (referred to by Mr. Fryer); Mr. J. W. Taylor, "Valedictory Address," "Journ. Conch.," April, 1888 (referred to by Mr. Fryer as the supposition of Mr. Taylor on p. 242, ante, but really being the supposition of Mr. Ashford); E. Schumann, "Schr. Ges. Danz." (2), vi. p. 2; Bandelot, "Bull. Soc. Strasb." i. (1868), pp. 132-134; Dietz, "J. B. Ver. Augsb." xxv. (1879), p. 92; Hartmann, Gastropoden d. Schweiz," 1840-44, p. 17; Colbeau, "Bull. Soc. Mal. Belg." vii. p. 89; Gredler, "Nachr. Mal. Ges." 1878, pp. 33-37; Tryon, "Structural and Systematic Conchology"; Williams, "Land and Freshwater Shells," p. 19; H. E. Poulton, "The Colours of Animals"; Eimer, "Organic Evolution"; Cockerell, "Zoologist" (3), x. p. 341; Simroth, "Nachr. Mal. Ges." xviii. pp. 65-80; Dodd, "Journ. Conch." iv. p. 304; Eimer, "Tag. Deut. Nat. Vers." Iviii. p. 408. In addition to these there exists a note of which I have not the reference by me, but think it was published in the 'Journal of Conchology." This is by Miss Hele, and records the darkening of H. aspersa by feeding on lettuce. Possibly there are other papers of which I have not summaries in my note-book. An interesting paper by the Rev. Mr. Pearce, on the variations in Helix caperata, has been lately published in the "Journal of Conchology." In addition, the following papers may also interest Mr. Barnes :Krukenberg, "Verg. Physiol. Vorträge," iii. 1884; Macmunn, "Q. J. M. S." 1877 and 1885; "Proc. Birm. Philosoph. Soc." iii. 1881-83, and vol. v.; "Journal of Physiology," vols. vi. and viii.; “Phil. Trans." 1885 and 1886; "Proc. Physiol. Soc." 1887; "Brit. Ass. Reports," 1883; Lankester, "Q. J. M. S." vol. xxii.; Poulton, "Proc. Roy. Soc." 1885; Pocklington, "Phar. Journ, Trans." vol. iii.; Moseley, "Q. J. M." xvii.; and the papers of Mr. Gulich, "Nature," July 18th, 1872; "Journ. Linn. Soc."; "Zoology," vols. xi. and xx.-J. W. Williams.

BOTANY.

THE VALUE OF ATTRACTIVE CHARACTERS TO FUNGI. Mr. C. R. Straton writes to "Nature" as follows:-The importance of attractive colours and odours, and of modifications of form to flowering plants is now perfectly understood; but the value of attractive characters to Fungi has received comparatively little recognition. At first sight it would seem unnecessary that a plant, unsusceptible of fertilisation, should possess characters apparently designed to enlist living creatures in its service: there is no pollen for them to carry, and no ripe seed for them to distribute, and attractive characters, such as colour, taste, and odour, are extremely well marked. The colours which fungi exhibit include almost every hue from white to black. We have the brilliant red cf peziza cups: the orange-scarlet of the Amanita muscarius, with its cap gaily speckled with white; the crimson of the Russula emetica; the rich yellow of the Cantharellus cibarius; the blue of the bruised Boletus luridus; the amethyst of the Agaricus laccatus; and the dark green of the bruised Lactarius deliciosus, with every possible shade to the deepest jet. But not only have fungi colours that are attractive by day; some, like the Agaricus olearius, are phosphorescent by night. Many tropical species light up the jungle in the hours of darkness; and in this country the coal-mines are often found illuminated by one of the polypores which propagates itself on the timbers of the workings. The tastes and odours of fungi are equally varied and attractive. Many Agarics have an odour of fresh meal; the Hydnum repandum rejoices in the flavour of oysters; the Armillaria mucidus in that of nuts; the yellow chanterelle in that of apricots; others have the scent of various flowers, such as the violet and woodruff; or of aromatics like anise; while a large number have an indescribable damp-cellar or fungus smell, such as slugs delight in. Many, like the shameless stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus) emit an intolerable stench, which so strongly resembles "the carrion of some woodland thing" that blow-flies and ravens quickly find it out. There can be little doubt that these are attractive characters. What, then, can be the service which these characters induce animals to perform for fungi? To answer this let us review briefly the life-history of any fungus possessing characters of an attractive kind. The common mushroom (Psalliota campestris) is particularly agreeable to sheep and oxen, and is abundant in autumn in rich pastures, although there is still much in our knowledge of its life-history that is incomplete, yet it is evidently composed of two main periods: first, a parasitic period passed in the body of an animal host; and secondly, a saprophytic period passed on some suitable organic soil. Let us sow the spores of a ripe mushroom as carefully as we may, none of them will

grow the first stage of the mushroom's existence must be passed in the body of an animal host; and as horses, sheep and oxen are all readily attracted by its taste and mealy smell, it has never any difficulty in finding a host to take it in. When once the spores have passed from the body of the host, they produce a mycelium, from which the future mushroom is formed. The connection between fungi and animal droppings is a matter of very early observation, and our forefathers were wont to believe that certain evil species came from the body of the Wicked One, and familiarly called them tode's stools, or devil's droppings. In this division of the life-history of fungi, I believe, we have the key to the value of attractive characters. Horses, oxen, sheep, foxes, squirrels, moles, birds, snails, and insects are all attracted by appropriate scents, tastes, and colours; and the forms and habitats of fungi are those which have least succeeded in attracting their particular hosts. There is no living being either great or small enough to escape the attentions of these plants in their ceaseless endeavours to attract; and among fungi, just as among flowering plants, every variation of form, scent and colour has been perpetuated and developed, because it has been successful in attracting and in thus securing the multiplication of the species. The subject is one, I think, that requires the gathering together of much individual observation in all parts of the world; and it would be well if those who have the opportunity would note at the time the name of the fungus and its observed host, and if students of biology, who possess facilities for laboratory work would follow the matter still further by artificial cultures, and so determine the changes that take place in the body of the host, and the course of the alternating sexual and agamous generations.

CHLOROPHYLL IN PLANTS.-Mr. J. Ballantyne's article in November's issue of SCIENCE-GOSSIP is most interesting. A few years since I dug up in my garden a hyacinth bulb which had been buried so deep that it could never have come to the surface. Its leaves were green, and the purple flower gave evidence that colour can be produced without light and air. I think I mentioned this at the time, and no notice was taken of it.-Rev. S. Arthur Brenan, Cushendun.

HYDROCOTYLE ASIATICA. In a recent number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP I see amongst the Notes and Queries a reference to the plant Hydrocotyle Asiatica. I have never heard of its use as a cure for leprosy ; but that it possesses medicinal and tonid properties is evident from the fact that it is used by the Tamil and Singhalese natives in Ceylon as a fish-poison. During a residence of some years in Ceylon, I frequently witnessed the operation. The leaves and stems of the plants are pounded into a pulp and stirred into the pool containing the fish, the stream having been first diverted into a side channel. The

fish soon show signs of uneasiness, and rise to the surface of the water, they are then easily captured by hand. Both H. Asiatica and H. Javanica are used for this purpose.-E. Ernest Green.

HYDROCOTYLE ASIATICA.-En réponse à la question posée par Me. Edith R. Allan dans le dernier No. de votre journal, p. 282, j'ai l'honneur de vous adresser la note suivante, qui, j'espère, répondra aux désirs de votre correspondante. Hydrocotyle Asiatica (L.) est une petite plante employée depuis long-temps dans la thérapeutique indienne contre la fièvre et surtout pour ses propriétés thérapeutiques. En 1872 le Dr. Boileau, qui était atteint de lèpre, crut s'être guéri par l'emploi de cette plante, et des détails à ce sujet ont été publiés par Bouton ("Medical Plants of Mauritius"). Le Dr. Boileau est mort de la lèpre. Des expériences ont été faites à l'Hôpital des Lépreux par le Dr. Alex. Hunter qui ne parût pas lui avoir reconnu une grande efficacité. Le Dr. J. Shortt considère l'hydrocotyle comme pouvant donner de bons effets dans les affections lépreuses en raison de ses propriétés altérantes et toniques. La plante a été analysée par un pharmacien de la Maison de Pondichéry Lépine, qui y a trouvé un principe particulier. La dose est poudre 3 grains par jour, teinture alcoolique grain.-Dr. J. Léon Soubeiranz, Professeur à l'École de Pharmacien, Montpellier.

CREPIS TARAXIFOLIA AS A SUSSEX PLANT. In your issue of November last your correspondent R. B. P. records the finding of the above at Willingdon. I may state that it also grows in profusion at the Buxted end of the railway cutting between Uckfield and Buxted, where I gathered specimens last June. It is quite possible that it may occur in other localities as it might easily be overlooked or mistaken for some allied species.-F., Ucke field.

EUPHORBIA CYPARISSIAS IN KENT.-If Messrs. Styan and Haydon will refer to the report of the Botanical Localities Record Club for 1876, they will there find the occurrence of this spurge in Kent duly notified. Specimens were distributed by me to the members of the Botanical Exchange Club in that and the following year. In one of the numbers of SCIENCE-GOSSIP for 1890, mention was made of the plant having been gathered near Eastbourne. It is frequent on the chalk slopes of Normandy, where I have seen it growing in open places among box and juniper; also in Switzerland, in bushy places on calcareous soil, and by roadsides, but not in woods. I did not see any of it beyond Leuk.-E. de Crispigny.--P.S.-See also February number of this periodical for 1877.

AUTUMN COLOURS AND TINTS.-The remarks on autumn colours by Professor Pellsbury, which appeared in a recent number of SCIENCE-GOSSIP, are