BOTANY.

PRIMROSES.-While shooting at East Hothley, in Sussex, on Saturday, the 8th of December, I picked a fine bunch of Primroses; and on the following day, one of my little boys found a bunch of the ripe fruit of the Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) in this parish.-W. N., Uckfield.

PROLIFEROUS HART'S-TONGUE.-During the end of last summer, a plant of the curly-leaved variety of the hart's-tongue fern (Scolopendrium vulgare), which I had frequent opportunities of seeing, put out on the surface of an oldish frond two little brown specks, which grew and developed just as the similar outshoots of the Asplenium bulbiferum do. In a little time, the mother frond began to wither, was cut off and planted in soil; the two young ones flourished, put out roots, and are now healthy growing plants.-Leonard W. Sedgwick, M.D.

THE TRUE PAPYRUS.-The Rev. H. B. Tristram has communicated to the Linnean Society that he found the true Cyperus Papyrus L. in Palestine, by the shores of the Lake of Galilee, sometimes growing to the length of sixteen feet. He afterwards found, in the almost inaccessible marshes of Huleh (the ancient Merom), many acres of the same plant. The stems are cut down by the Bedouins for thatching their huts and for mats. This plant was only known to occur in the marshes of the White Nile, in Nubia, prior to this discovery, it having disappeared from Egypt.-See Journ. Linn. Soc., No. 38.

COCOA-NUT MILK.-A tropical sun soon makes one thirsty. I wanted “ a drink," and, for the first time in my life, tasted iced cocoa-nut milk. Never in my life have I drunk anything half as delicious. Do not imagine that in the least degree it resembles the small teacupful of sweet insipid stuff dribbled out from the cocoa-nut as we buy it here in England. What we eat as kernel is liquid in the young nut, and the outer husk soft enough to push your thumb through. Surely the cocoa-nut palm must have been specially designed for the dwellers in the tropical world. It supplies everything uncivilized man can possibly need, to build his ships, rig, paddle, and sail them; from its products too, he can make his houses, and obtain food, drink, clothing, and culinary utensils. Strictly littoral in its habits, the cocoa-palm loves to loll over the sea, and let the frothy ripple wash its rootlets. This also looks like another link in the chain of Divine intentions. The nuts necessarily fall into the sea-winds and currents carry them to coral reefs, or strand them on desert shores, there to grow, and, by a sequence of wondrously ordered events, in time make it habitable for man.-J. K. Lord's “The Naturalist in Vancouver Island."

HOLLY IN FLOWER. I observed a holly-tree (Ilex aquifolium) in flower last month, at Pickersleigh, near Malvern. It still continues in flower, at a very unusual time of the year, when other trees are bearing ripe fruit.-Arthur D. Melvin, Dec., 1866.

THE MOSS-ROSE.-Madame de Genlis tells us that, during her first visit to England, she saw mossroses for the first time, and that she took to Paris a moss rose-tree, which was the first that had been seen in that city; and she says, in 1810, "the cultivation of this superb flower is not yet known in France."-Sylva Florifera.

THE JORDAN ALMOND-TREE was first planted in England in the reign of Henry VIII., 1548 (Hortus Kewensis). Dr. Turner notices it in the year 1645, and says, "Almond-trees growe muche in hyghe Germany beside Sypre in a cytie called Newstat, and great plentye in Italye, and some growe in England, but I have hearde of no greate store of the fruyte of them that growe in England."

THE MYRTLE.-It was upon a memorable occasion that the myrtle was introduced into this country,— as it is said to have been brought from Spain by Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Carew, in 1585, when they resided in Spain, and discovered the preparations for the Spanish Armada against us.—Sylva Florifera.

THE SWEET-PEA, the emblem of delicate pleasures, was unknown in the British gardens until the first year of the eighteenth century, when it blossomed in the garden of Dr. Uvedale, at Enfield, in Essex (sic), who is supposed to have been the first cultivator of this favourite flower in England, which has now spread itself over the whole of Europe,-entering every garden where the florist is disposed to

"Lend a staff to the still gadding pea." Flora Historica.

HOLY-GHOST PLANT.-The Orchid described in your last number under the foregoing title is the Peristeria elata of our stoves. It may be seen in flower during the months of July and August, at Messrs. Veitch & Son's, Royal Exotic Nursery, or at any other nursery of eminence in the vicinity of London. -W. J. D. A.

DOVE-PLANT. It may be interesting to some of your readers to know that the “Flor del Espirito Santo," or Dove-plant, Peristeria elata* (Hooker), is in cultivation in this country. It was introduced as early as 1826, and flowered for the first time in 1830, and a figure and description of it appeared in the Botanical Magazine, vol. lviii., p. 3116.

W. B. H.

* From TEPLOTɛpa, a dove, from the resemblance in the shape and colour to that bird.

MICROSCOPY.

POLARISCOPIC OBJECTS.-I desire to direct attention to a beautiful series of polariscopic objects which may easily be obtained from prawns, and possibly from shrimps and other crustaceans. Underneath the shell of these may be found, at certain times, a very slight, incomplete, and fragmentary deposit of crystals not much unlike the scales on some fish. The crystals are of irregular forms and various sizes, and are probably carbonate or oxalate of lime, and when united they appear to form the new shell of the prawn which is ready for use when the older shell has been cast away. On mounting the crystals or scales on balsam, and placing them under a polariscope, they will be found to exhibit the most beautiful iridescent colours; and so thoroughly and essentially polariscopic are the crystals, that even without a selenite plate their colours are gorgeous.-T. P. Barkas, Newcastleon-Tyne.

HARDENING CANADA BALSAM.-At the December meeting of the Quekett Microscopical Club, during a discussion on this subject, Mr. Hislop described the following simple and effective plan which he had adopted with great success. He had two plates of brass, 24 inches wide by 5 or 6 inches long, and of an inch thick, which were placed on a tripod over a gas flame turned down to the blue, so as to keep the plates hot enough to be unpleasant to the hand. After mounting the objects, he places the slides on the brass plates; and on taking them off again in an hour's time, he finds the balsam in nine cases out of ten to be hard enough to scrape off and finish. No difficulty is found to arise from air-bubbles, and those which form of themselves disappear as the balsam becomes hard.

THE QUEKETT SOIRÉE.-The first soirée of the Quekett Microscopical Club was held at University College on the 4th of January, and, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, about 400 persons were present. Amongst the "attractions" of the evening were Dr. Mary Walker, a living Stephanoceros, Quekett's own microscope, and a curious microscope exhibited by Mr. Burgess, which gave a field of apparently eighteen inches. These divided a lion's share of attention amongst them. A large number of microscopes were exhibited by the members, including the principal makers.

ACARI. Any correspondents willing to aid in the investigation of British Acari, with a view to the publication of a work on the subject, are invited to send specimens of mites, water-mites, or ticks, inclosed in quills, addressed to "Acarus," care of the Editor, 192, Piccadilly, London, W.

ASPHALT CEMENT. - The number of communications you have on the subject of making asphalt cement from Mr. Davies's receipt, shows that many fail in their attempts to dissolve, the asphaltum in naphtha, and are driven to other expedients, such as dissolving it in benzoli, turpentine, &c. Having myself at once succeeded in this, I have since made some experiments, with the view of finding out the cause of disappointment. Procuring naphtha from four different places, I found that two of the samples dissolved the asphaltum readily, after its being broken up, allowed to remain in the naphtha 24 hours, and then heated to about 190°; the other two had no more effect upon it than is described by Mr. Rowley in SCIENCE-GOSSIP, vol. ii., page 263; clearly showing that the only difficulty is to get the right quality of mineral naphtha, when it is very easy to dissolve the asphaltum in it. I may say the same with regard to the india-rubber: if the sheet or any other kind is used which has been previously dissolved, two or three days, occasionally shaking the bottle, will generally effect a solution; the thick lumps sold for erasing pencil-marks are not suitable for this purpose, being very difficult to dissolve. Before making the quantity required, it is better to put a spoonful of the naphtha in a small bottle, with a few bits of asphaltum as a test, which will soon show its dissolving power. Mineral naphtha and pure indiarubber can be procured of Mr. Woolley, 69, Market Street, Manchester, with which the operation may be begun and finished in two days, with the application of heat, or in four days without it.-E. Greenhough, Matlock.

BRICKS OF DASHOUR.-A celebrated botanist and paleontologist of Vienna has recently published some remarks on the bricks of the pyramids of Dashour, which was built about 3,400 years before our era. One of them being examined through the microscope by the Professor, he discovered that the mud of the Nile, out of which it was made, contained not only a quantity of animal and vegetable matter, but also fragments of many manufactured substances; whence we may conclude that Egypt must have enjoyed a high degree of civilization upwards of 5,000 years ago. Professor Unger has been enabled by the aid of the microscope to discover in these bricks a vast number of plants which at that time grew in Egypt.-Boston Post, U.S., Dec. 8, 1866.

SEPARATION OF VEGETABLE CELLS AND CUTICLES.-The quickest and easiest method for obtaining isolated cells is the plan devised by Schultz, viz., boiling in a mixture of nitric acid and chlorate of potash. After being thus treated, boil in alcohol, and afterwards in distilled water. Cuticles of leaves separate readily, even if they have been dried for many years. Mount in glycerine, chloride of calcium, or weak spirit.-Fredk. Kitton, Norwich.

GEOLOGY.

PRESERVATION OF FOSSILS.-Owing to the loose mineral character of the Tertiary deposits, in which most of the Mammalian and other vertebrate remains are found, consisting as these deposits chiefly do of sands, gravels, clay, or peat, their fossils are necessarily in a more or less friable condition, difficult to preserve entire, or to handle for scientific examination with safety. The substances generally used are glue or gelatine. For the bones of the larger Mammalia there is nothing better than the best glue; whilst for the more delicate bones of the smaller Mammals, Birds and Fishes, gelatine is the best, being purer, dissolving more easily, and imparting but little, if any, colour to the fossil. The consistency of these substances when used will have to be varied according to the structure of the bone; and as they also differ greatly in quality, it is impossible to lay down any definite rule as to the exact proportions to be used with a given quantity of water; this must be left to the judgment of the operator. As a general rule, however, all bones which have a coarse cellular structure, as the ends of large limb-bones, deer-antlers, &c., and also specimens from some deposits-for example, the peat-bed near Colchester, the fossils from which have their internal cellular structure either totally or partially destroyed-require the glue-solution to be of a consistency which will form a stiff jelly when cold; whilst for bones of a compact structure a much thinner solution, about the consistency of ordinary size, will suffice; if the solution is too thick, it clogs the absorbing power at the surface, and prevents its penetrating to all parts of the bone. The fossils should be thoroughly dried and cleaned from as much of the matrix as can be removed with safety; and if it can be managed, warmed before being placed in the solution. When the glue is all dissolved, and the liquid nearly at boiling heat (ebullition should be avoided, if possible), it is ready for the immersion of the fossils, and they should remain in it as long as air-bubbles rise to the surface; when these cease they will be sufficiently soaked. When taken out, they should not be drained, but laid in a position to retain as much as possible of the imbibed solution, until they are cold, when the glue will have set. Their position must then be shifted, to prevent their adhering to the board on which they may be laid. Any glue that may have drained from them may be then removed with a wet sponge. The vessels required are of the simplest kind. The common domestic utensils will answer for most purposes. The ordinary housecopper, saucepan, or, better still, a large-sized fishkettle with its strainer. But whatever the vessel used, a strainer of some kind, on which to place the bones for immersion and withdrawal, is indis

pensable; for the copper nothing is better than a wire-sieve. For bones too large for the vessel used, the treatment will have to be varied. For long limb-bones, strong enough to bear their own weight when saturated, it is only necessary to place one end in the vessel, and ladle the solution over the other end for a short time, and then reverse their position. But for bones which will not bear such treatment, the only plan is to securely fix them to a board, and place them in a slanting position in the solution, and well saturate them with it by ladling. For these, and for long portions of tusks of the Mammoth, and horn-cores of the large species of Bos, a special vessel, about three feet long, one foot wide at the top, nine or ten inches wide at the bottom, and nine inches deep, made of stout tin or galvanized iron, with a handle at each end, will be found most useful. Occasionally fossils are found which are either too large or too friable (as skulls and tusks from their natural construction frequently are) to be placed in the solution: for these a different method must be adopted to preserve them entire. Cover the fossil with thin paper, over which-on the sides and underneath if possible-put a coating of plaster of Paris, just thick and strong enough to keep together; when firmly set, gently pour the solution boiling-hot over the fossil as long as it continues to absorb, to assist which it may be necessary to remove in a few places some of the surface-bone, which can be carefully replaced; in two or three days the plaster may be partly removed by sawing and in small pieces, taking care not to injure the fossil by jarring it; the paper will prevent the plaster adhering to it. But this process is never so effective as submersion in the solution, and may require to be repeated. Some bones are better for being dipped a second time, but not allowed to remain long enough in the solution to melt the glue they had previously imbibed. Delicate shells from the same kind of deposits may be treated, with care, in a similar manner with advantage.W. Davies, Brit. Museum, in Geological Magazine.

PETROLEUM. During the past six years the United States of America have produced about 450 millions of gallons of petroleum. The average

daily yield for 1866 has been at least 12,000 barrels. The business of collecting, transporting, and refining it, employs as many hands as either the coal or the iron trade.-Professor Hitchcock.

FOSSILS OF THE LIAS.-Mr. Ralph Tate, Curator of the Geological Society, Somerset House, London, being engaged in the preparation of a monograph of the gasteropoda of the lias, for the Palæontographical Society, begs to request the kind assistance of private collectors by the loan of specimens for examination and description. He would be pleased to exchange fossils of various formations for those of the lias.

NOTES AND QUERIES. RELATIONS AT SEA.-A very interesting paper was recently read by Dr. Günther, at the Zoological Society, on the Fishes of Central America, in which he brought zoological research to bear upon the history of earth-changes. It had been supposed that the existing fauna of the Atlantic. was quite distinct from that of the Pacific; but Dr. Günther finds (in a collection recently made by Mr. Salvin), of the total number of species taken on both sides of the Isthmus of Panama, 30 per cent. to be specifically identical. Nay, they do not even appear to vary enough for Dr. Günther to be able to tell whether any given individual came from the Atlantic or the Pacific side. There was, therefore, no doubt, a communication between the two oceans, since the existing species of fish came into being; and the land across the isthmus near Panama is nowhere more than 400 feet high; while to the north, through Lake Nicaragua, there is another tract, nowhere more than 150 feet above the sea-level. That these low tracts of land mark the site of former sea-channels, is rendered still more probable from the fact that in the Lake Nicaragua a sea-fish still exists, the ancestors of which were probably imprisoned by the land's upheaval. Dr. Günther believes that there has been no such interoceanic communication since the latter part of the Pliocene period; in which case, the persistence of these piscine specific forms would be very remarkable. It is well known that, in ancient Miocene times, one fauna extended on both sides of what is now the separating land; but the specific identity of so many existing forms is quite a new fact.-British Medical Journal.

INSECTS IN CABINETS.-S. L. B. remarks, having read that camphor by its evaporation obscured and injured specimens in cabinets, and should never be used, desires a substitute. The caution originated in a "mare's nest," for the volatility of camphor, which causes it to evaporate and deposit again on insects, will also cause it in turn to evaporate from them until no trace is left. Let S. L. B. try a lump of camphor under a tumbler, and after it is all evaporated, report to us how much residue he finds anywhere. He may try "benzole" for a change, but will without doubt return again to camphor.

FROG IN OOLITE.-I beg to submit the following certificate and observations to those who are interested in natural history :

“I, William Munton, of Waltham, in the county of Leicester, quarryman, hereby certify that I was witness to the discovery of the stone and frog, now before me (in possession of Mr. Simon Hutchinson, of Manthorpe Lodge, Grantham), in the stone quarry, at Waltham, from ten to twelve feet below the natural surface of the ground, in solid rock. When the stone was split, the frog appeared alive; in size equal to the cavity therein. It continued to live about ten days after its release, and was afterwards preserved in spirit by the late Mr. Stow, of Waltham. Before the stone was broken, no crack or crevice was anywhere visible. As witness my hand this 1st day of December, 1866.

WILLIAM MUNTON."

This discovery is familiar to persons now living at Waltham, besides Mr. Munton; therefore, personal inquiry can be made by the sceptical, or silence, in future, will be most becoming. The

skeleton of the frog and the stones, also, are open for inspection. It is natural to exclaim, how could a helpless frog penetrate solid stone? It is not difficult, however, to imagine a live frog first enveloped in mere mud, which afterwards hardens into solid stone, ever remaining sufficiently porous to admit air and moisture enough to maintain torpid existence; and which, like seed of natural vegetation buried immensely deep in the outer crust of the until some accident brings it within the influence of earth, from its first formation, remains dormant, the sun to re-animate or develope, and ultimately exhaust its vitality. As to the age of the animal, I offer no theory.-Simon Hutchinson, Manthorpe Lodge.

THE APPLE.-The English name of this valuable fruit is evidently derived from the Saxon word appel; and from which circumstance we may safely conclude that the fruit was cultivated in this country under the Saxon government, if not previously by the Romans.-Phillips's “Fruits of Great Britain."

LAST AND NEXT NOVEMBER STAR SHOWERS.— A comparison of the whole number of meteors observed, with the numerical results of previous showers, shows that this shower was far less significant than some of its predecessors. Whether other parts of the world witnessed a grander phase in the display than we in England did, we cannot say, for there is at present no authentic information on the point. M. Coulvier Gravier, who ought to be an authority, at a recent sitting of the French Academy of Sciences, suggested that the maximum display of the epoch might be expected in November, 1867; because, he said, the really great showers are thirtyfour years apart instead of thirty-three, and the last of these was that of 1833. Moreover, he called attention to the fact that every very grand shower is preceded by one not so grand in the year before it. This was the case in 1832-33; whether it will be so this time we must wait till next November to learn. -The Gentleman's Magazine.

IS IT PODURA?-While searching for poduras very lately, a black individual made its appearance which I immediately recognized as a species new to me. Its motions were far more rapid than those of poduras generally, and its antennæ, which were longer than usual, extended out straight instead of curved over, as is mostly the case. On microscopic examination I found it had twelve eyes, while all the poduras I have met with have, I think, sixteen; but it possessed the curious forked tail, and was in other respects a good deal like the black podura (Macrotoma nigra). I killed it with chloroform, and on examining the scales, found to my surprise they were not like podura scales at all, but were more like lepisma scales, pleated like those of Lepisma saccharina and cross-striated like those of the seaside species, Petrobius maritimus,- both of which are figured in SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. ii., p. 56. The scales are minute and very finely marked; many of them are pentagonal, more or less regular, and many of the form of those of Lepisma saccharina. I have some recollection of having seen for sale, slides of Lepisma-like scales labelled "Podura scales," but I thought this an error on the part of the mounter. Is the insect known, and what is its name?-J. McIntire.

[In the genus Orchesella, the individuals are characterized as particularly agile, and with six eyes on each side. See Templeton in Transactions Entom. Soc., vol. i., p. 93, Pl. xi.—ED.]

MOVEMENTS IN DIATOMS.-On the forenoon of December 25, 1866, I took a small gathering of diatoms, comprising Campylodiscus spiralis and Pinnularia viridis. In several specimens of the latter, I noticed an unmistakable movement of large oily-looking globules, or granules, of which I counted from two to six in each half of the several individuals I examined. This movement was of a trembling and oscillating character, not unlike the granular movement which may be seen going on in the ends of Closterium lunula, except that in the diatoms in question the granules did not retain the grouping and rapid motion which distinguish them in the former, but passed at slow intervals through about one-fifth the length of half the cell. This granular activity could not, I think, be an error of observation; for I noticed it in many specimens, some of which were watched by me very closely for a considerable length of time. Nor could it be occasioned by the diatom's proper movement through the water, because some of the forms in which I observed it were not moving, but were perfectly stationary at the time. I shall be glad to know if any other readers of SCIENCE GOSSIP have observed this movement ?-B. Taylor.

DAISY ANEMONE (Sagartia bellis).— I have had two very curious specimens of Daisy Anemone, born in one of my aquariums lately, one having three distinct heads, each with its proper amount of tentacles, which I have named Cerberus, and another two. Is this an unusual circumstance? I think it must be, as Mr. Gosse does not mention it in any of his books.-E. J. J.

LOPPING TREES.-Can any of your readers tell me if the following lines in Tusser's "Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry" are founded upon fact; and if so, what is the scientific explanation?

"In lopping old Iocham, for fear of mishap,

One bough stay unlopp'd, to cherish the sap;
The second year after then boldly ye may,
For dripping his fellows that bough cut away."

CAT AND COCKROACHES.-Our house was perfectly free from cockroaches till June last, when we got a kitten, and immediately the cockroaches appeared. The cat showed peculiar enmity to them, and used to hunt and eat them by the dozen every day; and always after being fed, she would go under the grate to hunt for them. Some weeks back she, having been ill for a long time, was taken away; and from that very day the cockroaches disappeared also, one solitary individual having been seen on one occasion since; and since he came to grief, not one has appeared. Can there be any connection between their disappearance and the removal of the cat? It seems more than a coincidence, and her enmity to them makes it remarkable.-M. A.

CATS AND RAIN." Cats sitting with their backs to the fire an indication of rain." Can you inform me in your next number if the above statement is but vulgar gossip, or whether it is a scientific truth? If the latter, on what grounds?-W. B. B.

BLACKBIRDS.-Whilst my children were feeding the birds yesterday morning, our cat came down upon and devoured a fine cock blackbird. Three hen black birds (I believe of the same brood) witnessed the circumstance from neighbouring trees. As soon as Tom had finished his meal and departed, they gathered up the scattered feathers of their brother, and carried every one of them away amongst the trees of the garden. Was this done from sisterly affection, or from an instinctive feeling of reverence for the dead?-Ben. Snow.

HALO OF A SHADOW.-Permit me to corroborate the statement of the Rev. J. S. Tute, as to the halo of a shadow. I experienced a remarkable instance of this, one fine spring morning in 1865. Two friends and myself had started at five o'clock for a walk, just as the sun rose above a hill on our right, casting our shadows on to the slope to the left below, some fifty yards off. Our gigantic figures seemed to be surrounded by a nimbus of brilliant light, extending at least a foot and a half all round. The young wheat on which our shadows were projected was drenched with dew, and the reflection from the drops, each sparkling like a diamond, no doubt produced the appearance described. I have frequently seen it since, but never to equal this occasion.-Daydon Jackson.

HALO OF A SHADOW.-This curious phenomenon (SCIENCE GOSSIP, p. 23) is quoted also in "Kæmtz's Meteorology," chap. xix.,under the name of Anthelie; and J. S. T. is quite right in attributing it to diffraction :-"When the sun is near the horizon,' says K., "and the shadow of a person falls on grass, a field of corn, or any surface covered with dew, an aureola is observed around this shadow, the light of which is the strongest at the head; this light is owing to the reflexion by the stalks or straws, the dew-drops, or the vesicules of a mist lying in low strata on the sea. It is the brightest around the head, because the stalks situated in the proximity of that part of the shadow show all their enlightened sides, while other stalks that are farther show enlightened parts and others that are not; the stalks being cylindrical, the aureola is somewhat larger in the vertical sense." Fraunhofer attributed all this to diffraction, and observations confirmed his theory. When reflected beams pass through other vesicules, these beams are also diffracted, and coloured rings are the result. Anthelies were observed in the Polar seas by Captain Scoresby, &c. (more particulars vide Kæmtz).-B. Melle.

DOUBLE SHELL OF EGGS. A gentleman in Cumberland had a hatching of the eggs of the Moscovy duck sent him; one, from its very large size (it weighed over five ounces), was supposed to contain a double yolk, and was therefore broken for domestic purposes, when a second shell was discovered inside. The enclosed egg was of the ordinary size and appearance. The interval between the shells was filled with a fluid resembling the ordinary white of egg, but rather thinner.-W. Gain, Tuxford, Notts.

CORDON BLEU.-In answer to a query, SCIENCE GOSSIP, vol. ii., p. 262, I said, p. 283, Ampelis cotinga was cordon bleu; I found since, another bird has also that name, viz. the Sucrier gamtocin, Cynniris collaris, Vieil.-cordon bleu of Levaillant (vide Lev., "Hist. des Ois. d'Afrique," Pl. ccxcix., pp. 1, 2).-B. Melle.