Fig. 165 affords us an illustration of quite another class of stone implements, of neolithic date, and that perhaps low down. It is a polished stone hammer, four inches in length, made of granite, and was found along with flint knives, arrowheads, &c., at Caithness. This type of stone hammer is very prevalent in Scandinavia, and even in North America. Fig. 166 gives us an example of an ancient and useful curved knife, formed of flint, which has been chipped out with the utmost skill and care to the above form. This type is almost peculiar to Britain, although specimens have been obtained from Denmark approaching very near to it. The intellectual development-if we may use the word-which could manipulate such examples of industrial art as this and fig. 167, from so brittle an article as flint, must have been tolerably high. Both these specimens are from Yorkshire.

Fig. 168. Palæolithic Flint Implement from Kent's Cavern.

Fig. 167. Flint Arrow-head.

In fig.168 we go back again to palæolithic times, as the reader will apprehend from its resemblance to the first example; for this is a good representation of the more ancient stone weapons, and is from the celebrated Kent's Cavern, near Torquay. If the ancient character of the valley gravels, with their contained implements, carries back the antiquity of the human race, the cave weapons found beneath the thick and slowly-accumulating stalagmite of the floor do even more. At the late meeting of the British Association, Messrs. Pengelly, BoydDawkins, and others, expressed their opinion that, from the specimens found in Kent's Cavern and their position, man must have appeared on the earth before the glacial epoch! For more elaborate details as to this ancient cavern, as well as to the more modern ones of Somersetshire and the south

Fig. 169. Flint Core.

Space forbids us to do justice to the merits of Mr. Evans's book, which contains no fewer than five hundred woodcuts, besides plate illustrations. It is by far the fullest and most exhaustive work of its kind that has yet appeared, whilst the style in which it is written, although terse enough to show the author is in earnest, is nevertheless clear and attractive. Few books, during the present year, or for many to come, will deservedly attract more notice than that we have been endeavouring to introduce to our readers.

J. E. T.

THE "EMPEROR" MOTH. (Saturnia Pavonia-minor.) THIS beautiful insect is deservedly called the "Emperor" of moths; in fact, it occupies the same position among the Nocturni as the Purple Emperor (4. Iris) does among the Papilionida.

This moth is one of the most, perhaps the most, remarkable of its species in all the stages of its

existence, either for its beauty or else for its peculiarity of construction.

The eggs are opaque, of a greenish-white colour, and oval in form. The outside shell or envelope is perfectly smooth and free from any sculptured forms, which are so prevalent in some of the ova of the butterflies, as, for example, in those of the small Cabbage White (P. Rape) and the small Tortoiseshell (V. Urtica). The eggs are laid by the female moth in April and May, on the food-plants of the larvæ.

The caterpillar first appears at the end of June, and may be found from July to September. The segments are very plainly divided. In colour this caterpillar is a delicate pea-green, each segment having a broad band of black adorned with pink tubercles, each of which emits a few short hairs. It feeds upon apple, willow, and heath, and spins a brown cocoon among its food-plant in September.

This cocoon may be found all through the winter spun up among the twigs of its food-plant, or else on the ground underneath, having been broken from its support by rough weather. It is quite unique in its construction. One end is formed of very stiff hairs all converging to a point, and outside this is a loose woolly envelope or cocoon; so that while the moth, when it emerges, can easily crawl out, no other insect can get in.

The pupa or chrysalis is squat-shaped, the segments of the abdomen much divided: the wings, eyes, antennæ, and legs all very plainly marked in the outer shell.

The moth first emerges about the middle of April, and may be found till the end of May. The males, which fly very swiftly, are smaller than the females, but much more brightly coloured: upper wings marked with beautiful variety of blacks, browns, and reddish-browns, with an eye-like spot in each wing; under wing a rich orange-colour, marked with shades of brown and eye-spot in each wing, which the surrounding colour shows up to great advantage. The ground colour of the female is soft pearly grey, marked with shades of black and brown, with eye-spot in each wing. The life of these moths, unfortunately, is very short, the longest I have been able to keep one alive being not more than two weeks. The females die almost directly after depositing the eggs which are to form the next generation. CLAUDE RYAN.

MICROSCOPY.

MICROSCOPIC MARVELS.-We have been favoured with the sight of some remarkable specimens of microscopic manipulation. Most of our readers are acquainted with the slides of arranged diatoms prepared by Möller. These slides are, however, not arranged diatoms, but butterfly-scales, arranged

in various designs. One of the most beautiful represents two fronds of a fern, resembling a ceterach, the pinnules composed of brilliant green scales: the lower portion of the stem consists of brown scales. Hovering near are two butterflies. The body is represented by a long brown scale, the upper wings by two blue, and the lower by a pale brown scale. In another slide, the scales are arranged so as to form a group of flowers. These microscopic wonders are prepared by Mr. Dalton, jun., and we believe may be obtained through his father, Mr. R. Dalton, of Bury St. Edmunds.-F. K.

WOOD SECTIONS.-Those of our readers who are in the habit of mounting sections of wood have, no doubt, often been annoyed by their unsatisfactory appearance when mounted in balsam or damar. This is frequently the case, if the sections are (as they ought to be) cut very thin. The indistinctness when mounted in balsam may be avoided by dry mounting, but then their opacity renders them unavailable for use with high powers. The indistinctness of balsam-mounted specimens may be overcome by staining the sections, and for that purpose Judson's dyes will be found very useful. We have found the best effects are produced by magenta and One drop of the dye to about ten of distilled water will be found to give sufficient intensity of colour to the section. The section may be allowed to remain in the dye for several hours, and if the colour is too dark, it should be placed in spirits of wine: this will alter the tint to any degree of paleness. When the staining is complete, the section should be well washed in distilled water, and dried under pressure; then soaked in turpentine, and mounted in balsam or damar.-F. K.

mauve.

BOTANY.

RESURRECTION PLANT.-The botanical name of this interesting plant is Selaginella lepidophylla, and as it is a club-moss, of course bears no flowers. It is a native of California, Mexico, and Peru, and with one or two allied lycopods, may occasionally be seen in our gardens. In a recent number of the Gardeners' Chronicle (August 10, 1872), there is an engraving of this singular plant, with dissections, and a description from the pen of Mr. Thomas Moore.-W. G. S.

LITTORELLA LACUSTRIS.-Mr. Hind records this plant (last observed growing in Middlesex in 1805) as having been gathered in July in Ruislip reservoir. He thinks that many other plants supposed to be extinct in the country are not really so, but that either they have not been noticed, or are awaiting the happy combination of circumstances requisite to their appearance.

ARABIS STRICTA.-Mr. Barrington-Ward records the abundant growth of this rare Bristol plant on the Clifton side of the Avon, where it has been supposed extinct. He has very wisely said nothing about it until the fructification was over. It was in Leigh Woods that the plant was found so plentiful.

COMMERCE IN POLLEN. -A curious trade has recently sprung up, in a demand for pollen to fructify certain plants. The Palm tribe, the Cycadacea, and other greenhouse trees, will flourish without producing stamens, and, for want of pollen, will not fruit. It is therefore now becoming common to see advertisements for the pollen, for example, of the Caryota urens, and other tropical plants, and it is received through the post.

THE FLORA OF LIVERPOOL.-We are glad to see the really useful work which many of our leading provincial societies are achieving, in tabulating the fauna and flora of their respective neighbourhoods. The Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club has for many years taken a leading part in thus working up local subjects. The last issue of this work is a handsome volume on the flora of the neighbourhood, giving a list of the indigenous flowering plants and ferns growing within fifteen miles of the Liverpool Exchange and two miles of Southport. The latter town is brought in on account of its being a favourite resort for Liverpool botanists. The arrangement adopted in the orders, genera, and species is that of Mr. Syme, in the third edition of Sowerby's "English Botany" (London, Hardwicke). Among the chief workers we find the names of Messrs. T. B. Hall, Tudor, H. C. Watson, A. Stuart, Armistead, Slack, Shepherd, and Miss Potts. Among the plants whose loss, consequent on the extension of Liverpool, is mourned, are Vaccinium Vitis Idea and Convallaria majalis.

POISONOUS FUNGI.-Iu view of the recent fatal accidents through eating poisonous fungi, the Field recommends the coloured charts of edible and poisonous species, published by Hardwicke, 192, Piccadilly, as the best precaution against the mistake so often made by people unacquainted with the distinction between them. Besides the three boys who died a few days ago at Catton, near Norwich, a family of seven people are said to have since then been poisoned in a similar manner at Mylar, near Falmouth. These charts should be exhibited in school-rooms or other places of resort.

ZOOLOGY.

COLUBER AUSTRIACUS (ante, p. 208).-The following extract from "The New Forest," by J. R. Wise (p. 259, note), may interest Canon Kingsley and others of your readers :-"I must not forget to mention Coronella lævis (Boie), which is

found in the Forest, as also in Dorsetshire and Kent. This is the Coronella austriaca of Laurenti, and afterwards the Coluber lævis of Lacipede. It might be mistaken for the common viper (Pelias verus), but differs in not being venomous, as also from the ringed snake (Natrix torquata) in having a fang at the hinder extremity of its jaws; the peculiarity of the genus Coronella. It feeds on lizards, which its fang enables it to hold; drinks a great deal of water; and Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, to whom I am indebted for the above information, tells me that it crawls up the furze and low bushes to lick the rain off the leaves." I am almost sure that a snake I saw, in September, 1871, in some dried-up boggy ground between Lyndhurst and Christchurch, in the New Forest, was this species.-Fred. I. Warner.

BOOKS ON THE BRITISH FAUNA, and Notes on COMMON ANIMALS.-Systematic works on zoology do not always answer our expectations, either from their having been written rather by literary men than by field-naturalists, or by authors, who, though excellent zoologists, have been mostly domiciled in London., Yarrell, for instance, is deficient in his accounts of the notes of the feathered tribe, though much might have been told by description, and in some cases still more, as in the case of the Yellow Bunting or the Willow Wren, by the usual musical notes and signs. He says little of the characteristic notes of the different species of the Thrush tribe. There is also a good deal relating to our British Mammalia not to be found in Mr. Bell's otherwise interesting book. Two or three years back we came across a strange variety of the common Shrew. It was perfectly naked, excepting a few hairs on the tail; it appeared quite free from cutaneous or other disease, but, like its kindred in general, was intolerant of fasting; for when it had remained about eight hours in a botany-box I found it dead. The common wild rabbit, when it burrows in fields or gardens, and gives birth to young ones, takes care in the daytime to stop up the mouth of the burrow by scratching the soil or sand over it, to be opened again at night for its entry. Bell, in his description of the larger sheep-or drover's-dog, does not notice that the iris of its eye shows the same tendency as the dappled skin, having a deficiency of pigment in places, so as to give it a walleyed appearance. Again, squirrels have a wonderful power of attracting their fellows from a distance, perhaps explicable from their shrill voice and acute hearing. Besides the food mentioned by Bell, they eat the seeds of the fir and also fungi. I think the Dormouse gnaws the kernels of the laurel-berries, but seldom finishes one. There appear to be varieties of several of our British quadrupeds, suggestive of further examination-of the Badger, Otter, and land and water Vole for instance, the last

case, however, well remarked upon by Bell. The dark variety (Water-vole) is found in the upper Dove. This little creature is not altogether aquatic in its habits; last week, for instance, in excavating an ancient barrow on the summit of a hill, at the least a mile from any brook or pool, we turned up, as usual in such diggings, quantities of its bones; the peculiar molar teeth of this little beaver-like animal being quite unmistakable. Vice versa, the common Rat is often a frequenter of water, and to it the heaps of shells seen on the margin of pools and rivers are due. The Hedgehog, as well known, is protected by its power of rolling itself up and presenting its spines towards an enemy; but Bell does not advert (perhaps out of consideration for the animal) to the common but heartless device of placing it in water, when it must either drown or unroll itself. Lastly, there is a deficiency in zoological books in respect to habitat: to go no great distance for examples, it will be found that Ireland, the Isle of Man, and Cornwall, present many interesting peculiarities with respect to zoological distribution not generally noted.-R. G.

THE NAPLES AQUARIUM.-On the narrow strip of coast which separates the park of the Villa Reale from the sea, a large stone building is at present being erected at Naples, quietly and almost unnoticed. The strength of the foundations-it has taken three months to lay them-shows that they are intended for an edifice of considerable size and durability; and on making inquiries I have learnt that this is the Zoological Station, which has been occasionally mentioned by Italian, German, and English journals during the last few months. It has been organized and is being built by a young German naturalist, Dr. Anton Dohrn, of Stettin, who has paid nearly the whole of the expenses, which amount to about 50,000 thalers (£7,500), out of his own pocket, the only assistance he has received having come from a few personal friends, who have lent several thousand thalers for the purpose. The following is a short sketch of his plan:-The ground floor of the building, which covers an area of almost 8,000 square feet, contains a great aquarium, which will be opened to the public. Dr. Dohrn hopes that the money thus obtained will not only suffice for all the expenses of the aquarium, but also afford a surplus to be employed in covering a part of the requirements of the upper story, which is to be exclusively devoted to scientific purposes. Besides the officials and servants employed in the aquarium several young zoologists will be attached to the Station, and receive a regular salary from the director, Dr. Dohrn. Thus, a number of new positions will be opened up for young scientific men. But this is not all. As the only duty of these zoologists will be to devote themselves to certain branches of scientific work, and their exertions will

be carefully directed and organized, as has long been the case in astronomical and meteorological observatories, there is every reason to hope that scientific research will be greatly facilitated and advanced by their labours. In the upper story of the Zoological Station laboratories will also be prepared for the use of naturalists coming from other parts of Italy and from abroad. For this purpose a large scientific library will be founded, Dr. Dobrn's very considerable private collection serving as a nucleus, and about twelve tables, fully furnished with the necessary appurtenances, established. Each of the latter will be provided with a number of tanks supplied with a constant stream of seawater. Sea-fishing and dredging will be conducted on an extensive scale by means of several boats, to which, if the necessary means are forthcoming, a small steam-yacht will be added. The animals taken will be given to the zoologist for scientific treatment. It is more than doubtful whether all these rich and expensive conveniences can be furnished to zoological visitors without any pecuniary compensation'; but I hear that Dr. Dobrn has drawn up a plan which will enable even naturalists of limited means to enjoy the advantages of the Station. He proposes to offer one or more tables to various Governments and scientific societies for a fixed annual sum. These tables, and all the scientific resources of the Station, will at once be placed at the disposal of any naturalist who brings a certificate from the Government, university, or scientific body to which the table has been let. This plan, among its many other advantages, seems to be a successful attempt to solve the difficult question as to how it is possible to unite a complete self-administration on the part of scientific bodies with the reception of pecuniary assistance from their Governments. Dr. Dohrn speaks in the most grateful manner of the assistance rendered him by the German authorities in Italy, especially by Mr. Stolte, the consul-general at Naples, while at the same time he warmly acknowledges the interest in his undertaking displayed by the Government of Italy, more particularly Signor Correnti and Signor Sella, the late and the present Ministers of Public Instruction. The difficulties in the way of the execution of his plan were neither few nor small, as may be gathered from the fact that, in spite of the readiness displayed by the municipal authorities of Naples, more than two years elapsed before a definitive contract could be concluded between the town and Dr. Dohrn with respect to the cession of a suitable site for the building.-E. R. L.

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING AT BRIGHTON.-As was expected, the Association meeting this year was quite a success, not only in point of numbers, but especially in that freedom of