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have access to, and then boldly take the field for yourself. In addition to a hammer, we would advise the young student to take a good steel narrow-pointed chisel and a putty-knife. The former is very useful for working round, and eventually obtaining, any fossil that may have been weathered into relief. The latter is equally serviceable for clayey rocks or shales.

In arranging the spoils of these excursions for the cabinet, a little care and taste are required. We will suppose you to possess one of those manydrawered cabinets which can now be obtained so cheaply. Begin at the bottom, so that the lowest drawers represent the lowest-seated and oldest rocks, and the uppermost the most recent. If possible, have an additional cabinet for local geology, and never forget that the first duty of a collector is to have his own district well represented! A compass of a few miles will, in most cases, enable him to get a store of fossils or minerals which cannot well be obtained elsewhere. Supposing he is desirous of having the geological systems well represented, he can always do so by the insertion of such paragraphs as those which appear in our own Exchange columns. It is by well and thoroughly working separate localities in this fashion that the science of geology is best advanced. You hear a good deal about the "missing links," and it is an accepted fact that we, perhaps, do not know a tithe of the organic remains that formerly enjoyed life. Who knows, therefore, but that if you exhaust your district by the assiduous collection of fossils, you may not come across such new forms as may settle many moot points in ancient and modern natural history? The genuine love of geological study is always pretty fairly manifested in a student's cabinet. Science, like charity, begins at home. It impels a man to seek and explain that which is nearest to him, before the attempts the elucidation of what really lies in another man's territory!

It is not necessary that the student should waste time in the field about naming or trying to remember the names of fossils, &c. on the spot. That can be best done at home, and the pleasure of "collecting" can thus be spun to its longest length. Box them, pack them well (or all your labour is lost), and name them at home. Or, supposing you do not possess books which can assist you in nomenclature, carry your fossils or minerals, just as you found them, to the nearest and best local museum, where you will be sure to see the majority of them in their proper places and with their proper names. Copy these, and when you arrange your specimens in the cabinet, either get printed cards with the following headings

Genus Species Formation

Locality.

(which can always be obtained at a cheap rate from the London dealers), or else set to work and copy them yourself in a good plain hand, so that there is no mistaking what you write. As far as possible, in each drawer or drawers representing a geological formation, arrange your specimens in natural-history order-the lowest organisms first, gradually ascending to the higher. By doing so, you present geological and zoological relationship, so that they can be taken in at a glance. You further make yourself acquainted with the relations of the fossils in a way you never would have done, had you been content to huddle them together in any fashion so that you had them all together. Glass-topped boxes, again, are very useful in the cabinet, especially for delicate or fragile fossils, as people are so ready to take them in their hands when they are shown, little thinking how soon a cherished rarity may be destroyed, never to be replaced. Pasteboard trays, made of stiff green paper, squared by the student according to size, can also be so arranged as that the drawer may be entirely filled, and so the danger of shaking the contents about may be removed. Each tray of fossils ought to have the above-mentioned label fastened down in such a way as that it cannot by accident get changed by removal.

The spring and summer time are fast approaching, and we know of nothing that will so much assist in their rational enjoyment as the adoption of some study in natural science. Botany, entomology, ornithology, geology, are all health-affording, nature-loving pursuits. We have passed some of the very happiest moments of our lives in solitary quarries or on green hill-sides, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot!" There, amid the wreck of former creations, and with the glory of the present one around us, we have yielded to the delicious sense of reverie, such as can only be begotten under such circumstances. The shady side of the quarry has screened us from solar heat, and, whilst the air has been melodious with a thousand voices, we have made personal acquaintance with the numerous objects of God's creation, animals and plants. How apt are the thoughts of the poet Crabbe, and how well do they convey the feeling of the young geologist in such places :"It is a lonely place, and at the side

Rises a mountain rock in rugged pride;

And in that rock are shapes of shells, and forms
Of creatures in old worlds, and nameless worms—
Whole generations lived and died, ere man,
A worm of other class, to crawl began."

JOHN E. TAYLOR.

"NATIVE magnets from Arabia, China, and Bengal, are commonly of a reddish colour, and are powerfully attractive. Those found in Germany and England have the colour of unwrought iron; those from Macedonia are more black and dull."— Professor Noad's "Magnetism."

THE BANDED SUN-FISH.

(Mesogonistius chaetodon, Gill.) BY CHARLES C. ABBOTT, M.D.

SEVERAL times I have gone a-fishing this

summer (1871), taking with me something to read, and twice that something has been SCIENCEGOSSIP. Away from the smoke and din of a manufacturing town, in a quiet nook, guarded on three sides with a grandly wooded bluff, and through which wandered a lovely stream, I spent many a whole day; and here it was, while I rested from collecting specimens of the above-named fish, for my aquarium, that I determined, with your permission, Mr. Editor, to give your readers a short pen-and-pencil sketch of this beautiful fish, which, strange to say, has never yet been figured in any scientific journal, and is considered a doubtful species by Gunther in his Catalogue of Acanthopterygian Fishes.

Fig. 15. The Banded Sun-fish.

Well, I am happy to say, there is no doubt whatever concerning either his existence or individuality. To see him caper and show off his eccentricities would delight Mr. Darwin. After ten years' acquaintance with not only this fish but all his associates, I unhesitatingly declare him to be the most intelligent of our small freshwater fishes; and that fish are devoid of intelligence, none will declare who have studied them carefully.

The Banded Sun-fish lives in quiet waters, where there is an abundance of vegetation. He delights to hide in the masses of splatter-docks and allied plants (Anacharis and Nuphar) that are so characteristic of our quiet streams and mill-ponds; but herein alone he is like the finny companions that he has, as our various cyprinoids and the other sun-fish (Pomotis and Euneacanthus). If you approach the bank of the stream carefully, and gaze about with patience, you can easily detect him eyeing you very steadily, and if you are not too demonstrative, he will allow himself to be scrutinized. Stand still a moment and see him exhibit! With his dorsal and ventral fins closely pressed upon his back and sides, he moves along, slowly, a very ordinary fish, except

that his black and white show out very distinctly; but anon, he sees a shell slowly climbing the stalk of a splatter-dock, and then, oh-wondrous change! Up goes his dorsal fin, and down fall the ventrals! His colours deepen-the black bands are deeper black; the white interspaces assume a pinkish hue; and with fins outspread, down he sweeps upon the unsuspecting shell; and turning, down go his fins again to his body, and he saunters carelessly about, apparently using his colourless pectoral fins only. He is not to be scooped up, in clear water, as any ordinary sun-fish. Give him the advantage of but little vegetation, and he will dodge a scoop-net until your arm aches. Not by fast swimming, for he is a very slow-motioned fish in straight-away locomotion; but he will avoid you by dodging. In this, he is really perfect; and I have got round it, when collecting, by using two nets, after driving him into a mass of dock and other aquatic plants. He dislikes to have his favourite haunt intruded upon by other fish, and makes a great demonstration, when disturbed, which succeeds in driving off some fish, but not all. The ordinary cat-fish especially excites his ire. These slimy, restless cat-fish (Amiurus De Kayi) go nosing about in a most impudent way, and bump their clammy snouts against any and eyerything that attracts their attention. This is too much for our delicate friend, the Banded Sun-fish; and so, when he sees a cat-fish nearing him, he is immediately up in arms. His sharp spiny dorsal fin fairly trembles. He moves not an inch, while the sluggish Amiurus comes slowly nearer. All is passive on the Sun-fish's part until the nose of the "cat" is within an inch or more, when, with a rush, half head-over-tail, scrape go the sharp spines of the Sun-fish across the "cat's" face, which causes him, as we say in America, to skedaddle. Slowly floating on the clear waters of Crossweelssen Creek, I have peered over the side of my little boat, and watched the above scene, perhaps a hundred times, and ever laughed heartily at the success of my little friend.

The geographical range of this species is not very extended, but being found abundantly about Philadelphia and Baltimore, it has attracted the attention of aquaria-keepers; but their success in keeping them has not been very good. Why, I cannot pretend to say, as they are with the writer a most hardy species; and not only very hardy, but attractive in every way. They become very tame, and will approach the front glass, as you near the aquarium, and if you put your finger or hand in the water, they will glide past it, brushing their side against it, as a kitten rubs itself against one's feet. We know of no fish more suspicious of man when in its native haunts, and none that becomes tame more readily when once placed in a well-organized aquarium. This species was first described by

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Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, in 1854. Since that time it has become, in many streams, steadily more abundant; and although weaker than the common sun-fish, it seems to be driving them off, or at least taking their place. With the mass of hook-and-line fishing-boys, this species is a genuine rara avis, as it will not take the hook, however seductively offered. At least such has been my experience; and I have been able at odd times to take some species with a hook that usually bother the "hook-and-liners;” as the "Gizzard-Shad" (Dorosonia cepedianum), the "pirate” (Aphrodederus sayanus), and some of the smaller "darters" (Etheostomoida).

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Trenton, New Jersey, U.S.

A SIMPLE METHOD FOR PREPARING
SKELETON LEAVES.

THE old method for preparing skeleton leaves

was to macerate them in water for several weeks until the epidermis and parenchyma were completely decayed; afterwards to rub away betwixt the fingers in clean water all the decayed matter; then to bleach the skeleton by exposing it to the sun's rays. This plan is very tediousenough almost to tax the patience of Job,-and in most cases it is given up in despair, because not only does it take up much valuable time, but the skeleton is frequently imperfect, for some of the more delicate veiniets having become too soft, are rubbed away with the cellular matter.

From experience, I can honestly recommend what I call the new method to all young botanists, especially so to my fair friends, who take up the science of botany more as an intelligent amusement than for severe study. It has many advantages over the plan detailed above; very little patience is needed; it is cleanly, and the skeleton is ready for mounting or placing in the vase in three or four hours. Of course, in this, as in other things, a little practice is needful to secure perfection.

matter is found to be sufficiently softened, rub them separately but very gently beneath cold water until the perfect skeleton is exposed. The skeletons at first are of a dirty-white colour; to make them of a pure white, and therefore more beautiful, all that is necessary is to bleach them in a weak solution of chloride of lime. I have found the best solution is a large teaspoonful of chloride of lime to a quart of water: if a few drops of vinegar are added to the bleaching solution, it is all the better, for then the free chlorine is liberated. Do not allow them to remain too long in the bleaching liquor, or they become too brittle, and cannot afterwards be handled without injury. About fifteen minutes is sufficient to make them white and clean-looking. Dry the specimens in white blotting-paper, beneath a gentle pressure, after they are bleached.

Simple leaves are the best for young beginners to experiment upon: the vine, poplar, beech, and ivy leaves make excellent skeletons. Care must be exercised in the selection of leaves, as well as the period of the year and the state of the atmosphere when the specimens are collected, otherwise failure will be the result. The best months to gather the specimens are July and August. Never collect specimens in damp weather; and none but perfectlymatured leaves ought to be selected.

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name.

On the Northumberland coast, a few miles from shore, lies a group of islands called the Farn Islands, thirty-two in number, if the barren rock of half an acre or so may be considered worthy of that These islands vary much in size; but it is one of the larger that I have to do with now, and First dissolve four ounces of common washing the one on which, in September, 1838, the Forfarsoda in a quart of boiling water, then add two shire was wrecked, with the rescue of whose crew ounces of slaked quicklime, and boil for about the name of Grace Darling is so intimately confifteen minutes. Allow this solution to cool; after- nected. Not a hundred yards from the spot on wards pour off all the clear liquor into a clean which this luckless ship struck is the home of the saucepan. When the solution is at boiling-point, Cormorants. During the time of incubation these place the leaves carefully in the pan, and boil the birds, together with the lesser Black-backed Gull whole together for an hour. Boiling water ought to and a chance Eider Duck and Guillemot, are the be added occasionally, but sufficient only to replace sole inhabitants of the island. The herbage is very that lost by evaporation. The epidermis and paren- scanty; but even this is not made available to prochyma of some leaves will more readily separate tect the nests. The barest spots are selected by than others. A good test is to try the leaves after the Gulls to lay their eggs; and without the they have been gently boiling for about an hour, slightest attempt to form a nest, two or three eggs and if the cellular matter does not easily rub off are deposited, and it requires the greatest care to betwixt the finger and thumb beneath cold water, avoid treading on them. It is the Cormorants' dwellboil them again for a short time. When the fleshyings, however, that I want to say a few words about.

On the most exposed spot in the island the Cormorants have taken up their abode; and as we approached the island, we saw the long bodies and longer necks of these birds conspicuous; but the perfume the wind wafted to us indicated their whereabouts much stronger than was quite pleasant, for sanitary regulations are by no means carried out satisfactorily by this community. When we had scrambled on the rocks from the boat, we were within fifty yards of the Cormorants' headquarters, inhabited by some fifty or sixty pairs of birds. At this distance they only stretched out their long necks and eyed us with their small green eyes. As we approached nearer they showed uneasiness, and, twisting and stretching their necks, uttered their peculiar call. The only noise I can compare it to is the laughter of our own species. Fancy a party of fifty or sixty elderly gentlemen all laughing, not in a merry, joyous laugh, but in a gruff ha, ha, haw-some rolling it forth in a deep guttural way, some sharper and quicker, and some again in a more lively key, and you will have some idea how the Cormorants saluted us. When we got within five or six yards, the birds stood upright in their nests, stretched out their long necks, gave out their "Ha, ha, haw," and flapped away to a little distance, all the time eyeing us in the most comical way. I saw that the number of eggs varied; some nests only containing two, and others as many as six. I also observed that the eggs, though all of the long, uniform, oval shape by which they are so easily distinguished, varied much in colour, half in the same nest being of a greenish-white, and the remainder of a cream-colour; in fact, I hardly saw a single nest in which the eggs did not thus differ. The parent birds, not content with selecting the most exposed spot, must make their nests more conspicuous by piling up a quantity of black sea-weed, on which they lay their eggs. What purpose this mass of sea-weed served was a puzzle to me. From the heat of the sun in this exposed situation it had become hard and dry, and by no means formed a soft bed for the eggs or young; besides, it was so loosely put together, that it did not prevent the eggs rolling out, and I saw several eggs lying a little distance from the nest. These birds, at other

THE DESTRUCTION OF ENGLISH

BUTTERFLIES.

England, rather than in Scotland or Ireland, that
HEAD this advisedly, because I believe it is in

the destruction of these insects is carried on to an extent which greatly diminishes some species, and threatens the extermination of others. I have already referred to this in print, and abler pens than mine have commented on the subject, yet the evil is unabated. My attention has been recently called to it by some observations made by Mr. Birchell in the Entomologist. He mentions several northern districts in which certain butterflies, such as Io, Paphia, Rhamni, and Galathea, have become scarce, or have even disappeared. We ask, "How is thisis it due to the builder or the agriculturist ?" No; his reply is, that it is caused by the "merciless pursuit and wholesale slaughter carried on by the makers of buttefly pictures. The numbers thus annually destroyed are almost incredible. I have known 250 'peacocks' used in the construction of an elephant, and upwards of 500 tortoiseshells' in the figure of a crocodile three feet long. A portrait of Lord Brougham in butterflies, the checked trousers depicted by Galatheas' wings, is considered a clever work of art!"

Now this seems laughable, but it is really serious, and the practice, if extensively pursued, will do more mischief than is produced by the extensive captures made by some collectors for the purpose of exchange. No doubt the growth of towns and the cultivation of waste lands have their influences too, but these are not irremediable.

I believe that we shall have at last to institute a

society, the object of which shall be the preservation of our butterflies from extensive spoliation. No doubt, in many instances, the common sense of individuals, if it could be appealed to, would lead them to desist from a course as suicidal as that of the man in the fable, the luckless killer of the goose which produced golden eggs. J. R. S. C.

POLYXENES.

animal, with tufts of minute scales on its sides, and a pencil of hairs at its tail. It has twelve pairs of feet, and is found under the bark of trees," so say Latreille, Cuvier, and Lamarck.

or

times the most shy and wary of sea-fowl, when at POLYXENES, or Polyxenus.—“A little oblong home appear to change their nature, and become as tame as barn-door fowl. During the time we remained near the nests the old birds kept a watchful eye upon our proceedings, though never attempted to drive us from their nests by swooping or flying overhead, as many of the Gulls, and particularly the Terns, did. As soon as we had left the spot a little distance, we saw the old birds resume their post in a quiet, business-like manner, uttering their Ha, ha, haw" with gravity, and quietly settling down on their nests.

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This is my Polyxenes-Polyrenes Lagurus Hare-tailed Millipede. But how came he by so fine a name ?

Polyxenes (if it mean anything) means “One who entertains many friends." Let us see who his friends are, and what sort of company he keeps. Strip off a piece of dead bark from the yew-tree, and examine the under side with a magnifying-glass

--a very questionable and sinister-looking party indeed. Wood-lice and small spiders run this way and that, like a gang of pickpockets in Rag-fair disturbed by P'liceman X, on our first approach; but a bolder fellow, of villanous aspect, in a striped uniform, and armed with a pair of tremendous scorpion claws and with two pairs of crocodile jaws beset with long teeth, walks leisurely about backwards, forwards, or sideways, like his cousin the crab, as it best suits him! This is no less a personage than Chelifer cimicoides; and it is a matter for congratulation that he is no bigger than he is, for a more formidable-looking monster it is impossible to imagine. Let us put him away for further consideration on some other occasion, and go on with our observations on Polyxenes and his habitation. Now the latter is anything but neat and tidy; and I shrewdly suspect that our friend carries on the

an hour of pure enjoyment; that is, if you are made of the stuff which I hope you are. You will then begin to think, with me, that "Polyxenes, the entertainer of many friends," is not such a very great misnomer after all.

"First catch your hare," says careful Mrs. Glasse. "First catch your Hare-tail," say I; and, having caught him, put him in a pill-box lid, and examine him first with a pocket lens, and then with a two-inch or inch objective. Mark his graceful movements. He runs as if on castors rather than on feet; and, sure enough, if you examine his under surface, you will see that his legs, although he has from twelve to eighteen pairs of them, are very tiny and feeble-looking supports indeed. On close inspection, they will be seen to be four-jointed, and armed with a single claw. He is altogether a harmless and defenceless-looking little animal, and no match for that ruffian "Chelifer," whom we detected loitering about the premises, and whom we have remanded, without bail, for future examination.

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business of an old clo' man; for in every direction his own left-off wearing apparel, together with the tattered garments of spiders and earwigs, are seen dangling on the walls by shreds of cobweb, as I suppose, "to be sold a bargain!"

Let me recommend you, my dear young naturelover and happy possessor of a microscope, to collect some of these old clothes, which, by the way, you will find, as the advertisement has it, "Quite equal to new," as well as living specimens of Polyxenes; for whether examined as opaque or transparent objects, with spot lens or open diaphragm, with high or low powers, they will give you many

Fig. 17. P. Lagurus. Hairs on Feathers of Tufts, x 230.

Now let us examine our little Polyxenes as to his outward form and adornments. He is oval in figure, but flat, and fringed with tufts of so-called scales, which, however, more nearly resemble feathers; and stretching from tuft to tuft across his back are double rows of like, but shorter, feathers. Here let me remark, that the numbers of tufts and rows vary according to the age of the individual examined; for he does not-as a true insect does-change from worm to grub, and from grub to his mature form, but simply "shuffles off his mortal coil,"-skin, hairs, and leggings all complete, now and then, and takes unto himself a new row and an additional pair of tufts and legs with each new habit, until he has attained his full complement. He then leaves his shuffled-off "mortal coil" hanging upon a fragment of dirty cobweb, as before described. Now let us look at his tail. Not much like a hare's tail, but a collection of beautiful silvery hairs, quite different from the feathers of the tufts, as we shall see hereafter.

This tail I have caught him expanding like a fan, and I have a mounted specimen of the slough so

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