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measure, until we obtain evidence of undoubted glacial action at higher altitudes, of the extent to which the higher and secondary valley-system of the Thames Basin proper had been carved out in preglacial times, the work done representing, in fact, in Berks and Surrey nearly 200 feet of vertical erosion, due to ordinary rain and river action. This will be better understood from the generalised section (Fig. 107). All this time the erosion of the minor upland valleys was encroaching upon the more ancient plateau-gravels, as well as cutting away the soft Bagshot strata, disinterring the flint pebbles of the Bagshot pebble-beds with the recession of their outcrop, and mingling these with the sub-angular flints

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during chronicle, and often enable us to detect the progress of physical changes. Thus it is not difficult to prove that the present aspect of the lower valley of the Thames is very different from what it must have been 1000 years ago. Instead of being confined within regular banks, the river must have spread its waters over a broad lagoon, which was dotted with marshy islands. This is indicated by the fact that the A.S. word ea or ey (an island) enters into the composition of the names of many places by the river-side, which are now joined to the mainland by rich pastures. Such are Bermondsey, Putney, Battersea, Chertsey, Moulsey, Iffley, Osney, Whitney, and Eaton or Eton. The Abbey Church of Bagshot Royal Heath. O. Asylum.

Pinewood Cæsar's Broad-
Brick-yard. Camp.*

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Chobham Ridges.

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Fig. 107.-Relative Levels (O. L.) of the Plateau-gravels and the Glaciated Clays by Ninemile Ride, &c. P.G. plateau-gravels; T.G. terrace or secondary gravels; * 1 mile north-east of the line of section; v, glaciation strongly marked at these two places.

derived from the plateau-gravels themselves. Thus tier after tier of secondary or terrace-gravels has been formed, down to the present valley-floor, the same agencies having co-operated with those of glacial times, and continued their operations since the retreat of the ice. The lower (post-glacial) gravels of the modern valley contain, however, an admixture of Mercian pebbles with the wreckage of the more ancient plateau-gravels and the Eocene pebble-beds.

The recently published researches of Mr. Allen Brown, F.G.S.,* near Ealing, and of Mr. Shrubsole F.G.S.,† near Reading, were briefly discussed; and the special interest of the position of the human remains discovered by those two gentlemen was pointed out. The observations which they have published tell us (i) of the advent of man into the Thames Valley in company with the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros, and extinct species of Bos, Equus, and Cervus, closely upon the retreat of the ice; (ii) of the great antiquity of his appearance here, as indicated by the fact that the present Valley of the Thames has been deepened since that time to the extent of more than 100 feet at Reading, and to the extent of 50 feet at Ealing.

Even within the limits of the Historical Period important further changes can be traced in the Thames Valley, if we may trust the evidence furnished by those valuable linguistic "fossils" which occur in local names.

Dr. Isaac Taylor ("Words and Places," pp. 235, 236) writes:-"Local names form an

'Journal Geol. Soc.," vol. xlii., pp. 192 et seq. Ibid. vol. xlvi., pp. 582 et seq.

en

Westminster was built for security on Thorney Island, and the eastern portion of the water in St. James's Park is a part of that arm of the Thames, which encircled the Sanctuary of the monks, and the palace of the A.S. kings. The name Chelsea (a contraction of chesel-ea) or shingle-island [tells that the place was encircled by the river]. The Isle of Thanet was as much an island as Sheppey is at the present time."

[ERRATUM.-At the latest moment of printing the May number, a mistake occurred by which the woodcuts 84 and 85 were transposed. All our geological readers will have detected the error, and doubtless have already altered the Figs.]

SCIENCE-GOSSIP.

DR. E. E. KLEIN, F.R.S. (Lecturer on physiology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital), on April 28, began a course of three lectures on Bacteria, their Nature and Functions (the Tyndall Lectures); and Mr. H. Graham Harris, M. Inst. C.E., on May 9, a course of three lectures on the Artificial Production of Cold.

A VERY able and suggestive paper by Mr. A. S. Seward appears in the last number of "The Naturalist," entitled "Fossil Climates."

IN the last number of the "Geological Magazine," Mr. Smith Woodward describes a new species of Microsaurian from the Lancashire coal-measures under the name of Hylonomus Wildi.

MR. J. F. Jenner-Weir, the well known entomologist, has a capital paper in the last number of the "Entomologist," entitled "The significance of occasional and apparently unimportant markings in Lepidoptera." He thinks that some of them are vestiges of spots and other markings which were much more vivid in their ancestors, and therefore that such markings may contribute towards the .phylogeny of genera.

WE call the attention of our readers to Professor Marshall's address delivered before the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society on "Animal Pedigrees," which appears in the May number of the "Midland Naturalist."

AMONG the many valuable papers on natural history we get from the United States are the periodical issues of Dr. Riley's, " Insect Life," devoted to the economy and life-habits of insects, especially in their relations to Agriculture.

PARTS Twelve and Thirteen of Wallace's" British Cage-birds" (London: L. Upcott Gill) maintain the high artistic character of the preceding parts.

"THE CONCHOLOGIST" is the title of a new quarterly journal, price ninepence, devoted exclusively to conchology and molluscology. As our readers are aware, this subject has grown considerably beyond the bounds formerly assigned to it, and is now an important contributor to the facts of practical evolution. This new journal is edited by Mr. W. E. Collinge. The first number looks well and promises well.

THE Liverpool scientists are plucky people. They did not like their hightly readable and excellently edited "Research" being given up, so they have started another journal on pretty much the same lines, entitled "Discovery." It is published at threepence monthly. No. 5 is to hand, containing papers relating chiefly to economic science.

WE heartily comment, to all those whom it may concern, the last Report of the Manchester Museum (Owen College), issued by order of the Council.

A MOST useful and highly important pamphlet has been issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "The Pediculi and Maleophaga affecting Man and the Lower Animals," by Professor H. Osborn. It is illustrated by forty-two of the parasites whose lifehistories are described.

The Whit-week excursion of the members of the Geologists' Association this year was to the neighbourhood of Northampton, under the able leadership of Mr. Beeby Thompson, F.G.S., and Mr. W. D. Crick. Among the places visited were Wooton (Great Oolite, Inferior Oolite, and Upper Lias), Hopping Hill (basement-beds of Great Oolite

limestone and Upper Estuarine beds), New Duston (Inferior Oolite), Kislingbury, Bugbrook (Middle Lias, &c.), Stowe-Nine-Churches (Great and Inferior Oolites), Heyford, Upton, Old Duston, Vigo, Shittlewell, Kingthorpe (Lower Estuarine sands and plant-bed) Pitsford, Spratten, Baughten, Moulten, &c.

MICROSCOPY.

A MICROSCOPICAL PUZZLE.—I was examining a glass slide under my microscope, containing some sections of the green berry of Tamus communis, which I preserved in 1889, by placing the specimens in gum-arabic between two glass slips. I now perceive many small ovoid transparent bodies, several were larger than the rest and could move slowly from place to place. What is the name and the cause of their appearance? Could they have come with gumarabic? They do not seem to damage the specimen in the least, although they must certainly eat something. They are about one-sixth of an inch long when magnified forty diameters. This specimen is quite dry.-Henry E. Griset.

MOUNTING Corallines FOR THE MICROSCOPE.In answer to this query in No. 316 of SCIENCE-Gossip. I beg to inform your correspondent and others interested in the study of fresh and salt-water Microfauna of a very reliable method of mounting Hydrozoa with all parts fully and naturally expanded. I have applied it particularly to Rotifers, Infusoria, and Hydræ, and can recommend it "where all other means have failed." It is best to place a few twigs of the fresh corallines containing living specimens into a very deep watchglass placed upon black paper, with very little of the water they have developed in.. Allow all the animals to expand, and examine with a pocket-lens, if necessary, to ascertain when this has taken place. Then with a pipette add to the water in the watchglass a few drops of chloroform water. As soon as this is felt by the hydrozoa they draw in their tentacles, etc. However, if not too much of the anaesthetic has been given, and a little time allowed for it to evaporate, they will re-expand all their parts, at first only partly, but ultimately to their original extent. If rotifers are treated thus, the reviving of the individuals can be noticed by the drowsy motion of a few isolated cilia which begin their play again, at first very slowly, but gradually more and more vigorously. This stage is not the least interesting part of the experiment; it will enable the attentive observer to watch with greater ease every motion of the minute animals, take sketches of, and even photograph them. The treatment with chloroform water must necessarily be repeated by every one who makes the experiment for the first time, to let him know how often the hydrozoa will stand the effects of chloroform, and to give him

for future experiments an approximate idea of the proper moment when the death-blow is to be given. The latter consists in pouring over the weakened, but still expanded animals, a hot or cold saturated solution of corrosive sublimate. To make its action still more effective it is advisable to withdraw beforehand as much of the water in the watchglass as possible, leaving just enough to keep the hydrozoa fully expanded. This method of fixing all sorts of small fish or saltwater inhabitants needs a little practice, but it teaches a great deal in an experimental way, and secures more truly satisfactory results than many of the other methods recommended, some of which I shall mention at some future time. After the material has been fixed by the described chloroform-sublimate method, it should be mounted in a cell (not a metal cell) with corrosive sublimate. Glycerine is not suitable at all, and balsam only if stains, such as Dr. Beale's carmine and iodine green (used successively to produce a double stain) have been used. For balsam-mounts the animals must be gradually dessicated in alcohol, placed or dropped with a pipette upon oil of cloves, (never use turpentine for such objects) and when they have completely sunk mount them in balsam. I shall not return to the study and cultivation of rotifers, hydrozoa, etc., as it would lead too far, and I shall refer to this subject at a future opportunity.C. O. Sonntag, Glasgow.

NEW SLIDES.-Mr. Fred. Enock's slides are always welcome. They are not only well mounted, and the objects interesting, but they deal with some new phase of entomological discovery or research, so that both specialists and amateur naturalists can hardly do without them in their cabinets. The latest things Mr. Enock has sent out are connected with a subject to which he has devoted much special research-the natural history of insect-egg parasites. One preparation contains three eggs of Psocus, each containing a tiny parasitic fly (Alaptus minimus) ready to emerge. The parent parasite had laid the egg in each of the affected eggs, and the young larva had there found sufficient nutriment to allow its going through all its transformations there. Another preparation contains a specimen of Alaptus minimus which Mr. Enock bred from the egg. The exquisite beauty of these specimens must be seen to be appreciated. From Mr. E. Hinton we have also received two highly interesting and beautifully mounted marine objects for microscopical examination and study. One is a fine specimen of the sea-pen or "cock's comb" (Pennatula phosphoreus), with all the tentacles fully extended and surrounded and strengthened by bundles of acicular spicule. When seen on a dark ground this is a most exquisite specimen. Mr. Hinton's other preparation is a beautifully mounted palate of a South Australian mollusc (Phasianella Australis).

ZOOLOGY.

NOTHOLCA ACUMINATA.-On March 27th, I found a specimen of this rare Rotiferon in water taken from a clear ditch on Hayton Common, near Retford. The concave shape, as it turned on its side, was very marked. I was only able to find one specimen, although I took numerous dips. The only habitat given in Dr. Hudson's book is "Ornamental Waters near London."-R. Clark.

SOLWAY FISHERY.-Mr. J. J. Armistead in his circular (season 1890-91), mentions the following interesting "items" :-"A black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus, settled on one of the ponds, when a large trout went for him,' probably taking him for a fly, and broke his leg. The bird was afterwards found dead." "The trout in the ponds have often been seen to rise at swallows as the birds skimmed over the surface, but the fish is a bad flying shot and has never been seen to hit one." "A large dog jumped into one of the ponds and had a hot time of it amongst the fish." Mr. Armistead has forwarded a consignment of ova to Natal, during the past season, which is reported as arriving there in splendid condition. He is now cultivating aquatic plants, shellfish (mollusca), and crustaceans; especially freshwater shrimp, for stocking fish-ponds." His circular says: "It is now a well-ascertained fact that the famous Gillaroo, and some other very fine breeds or varieties of trout, owe their reputation to the food on which they live; and that food has been ascertained to be shell-fish. I have met with instances in which trout supplied from this fishery have grown with great rapidity, and in three years, or less, have attained a weight of about four pounds, and these, on dissection, have been found to be gorged with shell fish." I have myself taken trout of which the crop has been found to be full of the common black water snail, many of the shells being crushed into fragments; but I do not know if this crushing has been done with the mouth of the fish or after the arrival of the shells in the crop.-Thos. Winder, A.M.I.C.E.

A PARTLY SCALARID SPECIMEN OF HELIX ASPERSA FROM WEST KENT.-In a batch of shells sent to me for naming by Mr. J. R. Longhurst, from Dodington in Kent, I find an interesting Subscalariform monstrosity of Helix aspersa. The word subscalariform fully explains the character of the shell and any further description seems hardly necessary. Of course it is not so completely scalarid as the wellknown specimen in the Natural-History Museum, but it is interesting as showing a "half-way house," between the contour of that shell and the contour of the type. The shell is bodily small; its height is 25 mill. ; and its breadth 15 mill.-7. W. Williams.

CLASSIFICATORY POSITION OF THE MOLLUSCA.—

In answer to Dr. P. Q. Kegan's query on p. 95, ante, as to why the Molluscan phylum is placed higher up on the zoological scale than that of the Annulosa, I think the chief reason is that of the nervous system, which shows greater concentration and, in the majority of the higher forms at least, is chiefly localised in the head as an oesophageal ring. In the lipocephala the head region has atrophied in adaptation to a "sessile inactive life" (Article "Mollusca" in Professor Lankester's "Zoological Articles," p. 102,) and taken all together, the Mollusca, in structure and embryological history, show a decided advance on the Arthropoda and Echinodermata, considering that the ancestor of both these three phyla is common to all, and to be sought in one of the simple worms. If Dr. Kegan will read the articles on the Annulosa and Mollusca in the last edition ;of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," I think he will very quickly come the conclusion that the present systematic position of the Mollusca is the only true one.-J. W. Williams.

ERRATUM.-In my note on "A new variety of Helix Cantiana" (p. 113 ante), about half a millimetre "should read" above half a millimetre.-J. W. Williams.

MOUNTING SHELLS.-I cannot "advise" Miss Priest on this subject, not knowing what other substances are used in mounting, but a very good material is formed by equal weights of gum arabic and gum tragacanth dissolved in water to the consistency of very thick paste. Hundreds of shells were mounted in this way in the British Museum. Shells even of considerable size can be easily set in any position in a bed of the gum. Dissolve the gum arabic in water, making it very thin. Pour this on the gum tragacanth, which swells considerably, and as it swells stir and add water, if necessary. Add a few drops of essential oil to prevent mould. The paste is most useful for general purposes. Caution is desirable in giving it away, every friend to whom I have ever given a pot has required that the supply should be kept up for the term of his natural life.— G. T. Staveley.

LOCAL CONCHOLOGICAL SOCIETY.-May I suggest to L.J.S. that it would add largely to the value of the work of his Conchological Society if a rule were made to preserve (if possible, mounted as microscopic objects) the tongues of all the mollusca whose shells are taken. The study of shells alone has now very much given place to that of the animals themselves with their shells, and the tongues are valuable in distinguishing genera. They will keep for years simply dried. Any members of the Society unable to mount them, might present them, with the shell laid out dry by its side, for the use of students of the mollusca.-G. T. Staveley.

BOTANY.

NOTES ON VEGETABLE TERATOLOGY.-Since much has been written of late concerning floral monstrosities, the following notes from my log-book on some which came under my notice a few years ago may be found interesting to such who have turned their attention to the science of teratology. In the summer of 1886 I found an isolated plant of Campanula rotundifolia growing in a shaded nook near Hampstead Heath, with a flower having the corolla divided into five distinct petaloid segments; the flower was found to be homogamous. The gamopetalous flowers of Campanula are decidely dichogamous, and further the vascular system of the corolla does not exhibit that of separate segments cohering by their respective edges, for the veins are found to ramify and anastomose all over the space between each contiguous dorsal rib in such a manner as to render any line of cohesion extinct. This dialysis must be regarded as retrogressive, a reversion to some primordial and less specialized condition, owing perhaps to the scarcity or entire absence of bees, correlated with thecombined influences of temperature and the impoverished condition of the soil in which the plan> grew. On November 7th, 1886, I saw a plant of Angræcum sesquipedale bearing two flowers with exceedingly large nectariferous spurs. The spurs of the flowers measured respectively 16 and 17 inches in length. The other parts of the flowers were found to be in a normal condition and of the usual size. The cause of the monstrous condition of these spurs was probably due to the unusually high temperature to which the plant had been subjected, and it is not an unfeasible presumption to suppose that as the nectariferous spurs are regarded as having originated through irritation set up by insect visitors, that an unusually high temperature would induce an additional flow of nutrition to those parts that are already hypertrophied through heredity. During the year of 1888 several teratological specimens came under my notice. found two flowers of Sempervivum arachnoideum in which the margins of the anther cells bore from four to six ovuliferous processes. I also found three flowers of three different species of Begonia with stigmatiferous and ovuliferous stamens, and one flower in which the stigma was antheriferous. I also took note of several cases in which anthers occupied the place of the stigma. (1) A flower of Campanula medium in which four anthers occupied the position of the stigma. (2) A flower of Galanthus nivalis having two anthers in place of the stigma. (3) A terminal flower of Digitalis purpurea having six fertile stamens and no pistil; the two short stamens reaching maturity first, the two intermediate following, and finally the two largest. I saw on a plant of Aquilegia (var. ?) growing in my garden a flower with two spurs bearing rudimentary ovules, and three of the stamens

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were stigmatiferous and ovuliferous. The probable cause of the above-mentioned abnormalities I believe to have been largely due to environments, and the following notes on Fritillaria meleagris and a variety of Mimulus tend somewhat to support this conclusion. In April of the same year I obtained a bulb of fritillaria from its native haunt, the bulb was replanted and rested, and it bloomed again in the following year at the end of March. The perianth of the flower was campanulated, but considerably smaller than that of the previous year, the stamens were metamorphosed into petals, and one crumpled petal very broad at the base occupied the position of the pistil. The plant before flowering had been kept in a dry atmosphere, and a somewhat dry and poor soil. I purchased last year a pot of Mimulus (var.?) from a street stall, and on bringing it home it was allowed to remain in the dry warm atmosphere of a room; when the new flowers opened they were found to be much smaller, and had lost the delicate salmon tint for which I had been induced to purchase it. A few days after the plant was removed to the greenhouse, and after a lapse of five weeks new flowers developed and were characterized by the colour, size and shape of those expanded when I purchased the plant.7. H. A. Hicks, F.R.H.S.

HUTCHINSIA PETRÆA. Hooker (3rd. Ed. 1884) states that this pretty little Cruciferous plant is to be found in Eltham Churchyard, where it has been naturalised, having been planted, it is supposed, by Dillenius. Has any reader of SCIENCE-GOSSIP found it there within recent years? I have made a careful search for it this spring but have failed to find it, and therefore imagine it to be extinct.-W. B., Plumstead.

VARIATION OF COLOUR IN PLANTS.-Having read Mr. Jones' interesting notes on the "Variation of Colours in Plants," I think the following observations made last autumn when staying at Carr Bridge, Inverness-shire, may perhaps be of some interest. The season was an extraordinarily good one from a Botanical point of view, the heather far above the average, every tree and shrub being covered with blossom or fruit, the currant and gooseberry trees had their lower branches dragged down to the ground by the unusual weight of fruit, and the raspberries lasted from about the 15th of August to the same date in September. Wild flowers too, were very fine and numerous, especially "the blue bells of Scotland" (Campanula rotundiflora) occurring for the most part on grassy slopes and the outskirts of corn-fields, where they exhibited great variety both in size and colouring, varying from a deep purple to a very pale blue; the contrast, however, was greatest in size, some plants preferring quality to quantity, bearing three or four bells per stalk nearly an inch in depth, while others bore double the number but only a quarter of the size. With regard to the white

variety I found but two examples, one on the edge of an oat-field, the other at a burn side. Both were fine plants, bearing eight and five bells respectively of a beautiful creamy-white colour. I have met with this variety in several counties, and though of rare occurrence it appears to be generally distributed over Scotland. The common scabious (Knautia arvensis) was very plentiful and of every shade between purple and snow white, the same plants frequently bearing flowers of different tints, one specimen had two flowers on the same stalk, one normal, the other dwarf and about three quarters of the way up the main stem, to which it was attached at right angles by a small pedicle. This species rarely occurs above an altitude of 1,000 feet, thriving best in moist grassy situations. The most abundant plant and the most striking in its colour effects was the common heather or ling (Erica vulgaris), which, clothing as it does, miles of hill-side and moorland with its lovely purple bloom, constitutes one of the greatest charms of Highland scenery. This species is by no means constant in its colouring, there being at least three distinct varieties: (1) purple inclined to mauve ; (2) purple inclined to carmine; (3) pure white, which last is very rare and when young hard to distinguish from variety (1), the buds of the latter being almost colourless, save a faint pinkish tinge at their base. I have found it on every moor visited, only, however, in small sprigs amongst miles of the ordinary type. After flowering, the heather still serves a number of purposes, being used for brooms, thatching, making beds for the poor, and heating ovens. It is considered lucky to find the white variety. The cross-leaved heath (E. tetralix) is, I think, the prettier flower of the two, though its beauties are not so obvious until we raise its modestly hanging head, which at once reveals the wealth of colour displayed in the shading of its delicate bells. These being carmine-coloured at the base, make the flower apparently darker than it is, the bells being in reality quite white at their mouths and increasing in colour towards the base. This species grows plentifully in peat-bogs and other moist situations on the moors, being generally found in clumps, getting rather straggling above an altitude of 3,000 feet. It is not apparently subject to much variation, though last August I had the good fortune to light on a clump, bearing white flowers; not a pale transparent, but an opaque creamy-white; there were over thirty blooms, the roots soaking in water. Never having heard of this variety before, I should very much like to know whether any reader of "SCIENCE GOSSIP " has met with it? The common purple heath (E. cinerea) is the least abundant of the three mentioned, being only found on bare rocky ground and the faces of cliffs, where comparatively little moisture accumulates, and is not subject to variation in colour. It occurs at an altitude of 4,000 feet very stunted, about 2,500 suits it best, where I have taken speci

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