A BUNDLE OF BOOKS.

THE topmost of the pile of books on the natu

ralist's table just now, and we doubt not of many others, is Mr. Charles Darwin's new work on “Animals and Plants under Domestication," just published in two volumes. At present that is all we know of it, and hence cannot be expected to enlighten others.

WHOLESOME FARE; or, The Doctor and the Cook. By E. S. and E. J. Delamere (Lockwood & Co.), is a thick volume of nearly 800 pages devoted to the very important subject of good food and how

3. Pericosmics. Hypocosmics... 2. Orbicosmics. 1. Epicosmics. Orbicosmic is a hybrid term, but asterocosmic or planetocosmic would not be sufficiently definite."

When our author publishes a new Dictionary of the English Language with his own additions, we may try by its aid to read his book. It's of no use trying now-we can't do it.

ANTS.

are usually a most uninteresting kind of literature, but herein is an exception. Although fried puffballs, champignons, and other savoury fungoid delicacies are omitted, there are plenty of others, and no physician could give a better prescription to secure health than "Wholesome Fare."

COLEOPTERA HESPERIDUM, being an enumeration of the Coleopterous Insects (Beetles) of the Cape Verde Archipelago. By T. Vernon Wollaston (Van Voorst). This is successor and companion to its author's enumeration of the Beetles of the Madeiras, Salvages, and Canaries, and is a valuable contribution to entomological literature. The introductory remarks on distribution are interesting and useful, and almost every species is followed by practical observations which those will best appreciate for whom the work is designed-viz., the scientific students of this branch of entomology. It does not profess to be a popular, but undoubtedly it is a sterling scientific work, for which the name of its author is sufficient guarantee.

THE NATURALIST'S NOTE BOOK has completed its first volume, and is a judicious selection of titbits relating to natural history from the literature of the day. The mistake which commences its second volume is unfortunate, but cannot pass unnoticed.

ORGANIC PHILOSOPHY, Vol. II., Outlines of Ontology, by Hugh Doherty, M.D. (Trübner & Co.) is far beyond our comprehension. We have read as far as this:

"Within the limits of our monocosmic solar system, we have to study secondary groups of pericosmic orbs, single globes or comets, and the subordinate realms of nature upon the crust of an individual planet. To these degrees of secondary subdivision we may apply the words pericosmics, orbicosmics, and epicosmics. The general denominations of cosmics and hypocosmics are subdivided in the following manner:

Monthly Magazine Mr. Frederick Smith gave a list of the species of Ants known to inhabit this country. Some of these have from time to time been alluded to in these pages. The writer of the article in question states that in 1851 only eighteen species were numbered as British, whilst, in 1865, there were ascertained to be thirty-two. First and foremost is the "Wood-ant" (Formica rufa), of which we give an illustration from Professor Blanchard's work on the "Metamorphoses of Insects," noticed in our last number. (See also SCIENCE-GOSSIP for 1866, p. 150.)

Then follow eleven other species of the same genus, of which six are generally distributed, and five are local. Of the former is the "Mining Ant" (Formica cunicularia); the "Ash-coloured Ant" (Formica fusca); the "Jet Ant" (Formica fulginosa), which nests in decaying trunks of trees, &c.; the "Garden Ant" (Formica nigra); the "Redbrown Ant" (Formica umbrata), which, together with the "Yellow Ant" (Formica flava), raises little hillocks in the ground.

Then follow the two species of Tapinoma, which are local, and two species of Ponera. These are succeeded by five species of Myrmica, of which three are said to be generally distributed. Almost all the rest are local, One of the best abused is the "House Ant" (Diplorhoptrum molesta), which makes itself too much at home in many London houses. Of this little creature a graphic account is contained in our first volume (1865, p. 170), and in the second volume (1866, p. 272), Mr. W. E. Shuckard continues the theme. Recently, others have written, not long articles, but imploring paragraphs, begging to be relieved, by any means, from the incursions of the "House Ant."

This reminds us, not only of the "Agricultural Ant," of which Dr. Lincecum has given such an interesting account, but also of the "Sauba Ant," which our friend H. W. Bates has almost immortalized in his "Naturalist on the Amazons;" and hence we pass into a dream of ant histories and ant stories, and whatever scores of naturalists and travellers have written about ants, between the days of Solomon and our own.

IN

Fig. 46. EYES OF A N collections of all kinds, whether they refer to nature or art, there must occur in the variety of specimens, some few of a greater value, distinguished from all others by their superior perfection or rarity; and thus placed apart as centres of interest and attraction.

Our conchological friend, for example, will show us drawers full of what, to our innocence, may appear to be beautiful shells; but he generally selects some particular specimen, and under such a name perhaps as Pseudoliva or Fastigiella, claims for it our admiration and our sympathy with his pride as its possessor.

This is especially the case with microscopic objects; and indeed it may be safely asserted that no collection, carefully selected and of fair extent, is without some two or three examples which, either from their rarity or beauty, may well be called the "Gems of the Cabinet."

Illustrations of slides of this order, accompanied by short accounts of their nature and the manner of their acquisition, would, we think, at once tend to awaken a wider interest in these studies, save many beautiful but perishable things from destruction, and assist the microscopist in his search for some of the more striking and rare objects with which to adorn his collection.

Our present subject is a slide showing the complete set of eyes of a Tarantula spider of the genus Lycosa. It is perhaps with the Kelner eye-pieces, and magnified to a diameter of eight inches, that it can be seen to the greatest advantage.

It was obtained from some débris of a collection

TARANI ULA, × 25.

once in the possession of the celebrated entomologists Kirby and Spence. No record of it was preserved; and to make out with certainty the exact species would be almost impossible. There is little doubt, however, that it is a South American spider, and most probably its true habitat is Colombia.

We extract the following notice of these animals from a treatise on the Invertebrata by Mr. W. S. Dallas:

"The Lycosida make no regular webs, but take their prey by force; some of them running it down by swiftness of foot, whilst others spring upon the unwary victim.

"Perhaps the most celebrated of these spiders is the Tarantula (Lycosa tarantula) of Southern Europe, whose bite is supposed by the natives of Italy to cause death, unless the patient can be relieved by music and violent dancing."

Professor Owen says of the "Lycoza," in his "Lectures on the Invertebrate Animals" (second edition), that "the poison glands extend into the cephalothorax," and this fact certainly gives probability to the commonly received tales of the danger consequent on wounds inflicted by their poisonous fangs.

Clean and complete sets of the eyes of the higher Arachnida will always make fine objects for the microscope; not only on account of their brilliant colour and bold stereoscopic effect, but from the wonderful and characteristic variety in the disposition of the individual organs.

DR

ANOTHER NEW MOSS.

(Hypnum Bambergeri.)

R. FRASER has again added a very interesting species to our Moss Flora, and having had the pleasure of his company in several botanical expeditions in the Breadalbane mountains last summer, I can bear witness to the untiring energy which he devoted to the search for our little treasures. Alpine botanizing is not always an agreeable pastime, for the poor bryologist may have to endure a daily soaking by the dense fogs which sometimes for weeks envelope the mountain tops, and shut everything from view; now creeping to the edge of some vast precipice he sees nothing, he hears nothing but the muffled plashing of the torrent hundreds of feet below; now clinging to the narrow b

с

a

disclosing here and there a glimpse of some silvery loch, and backed by the cloud-capped cone of Ben Nevis, with Cairngarm and Ben-Muir-Dhui, their snowy crests gleaming with unearthly splendour.

This last addition to our list was first discovered by Bamberger on the Stockhorn, in Switzerland, and afterwards by Sendtner on the Bavarian Alps. M. Mitters detected it in Dr. Lyall's collection from Beechey Island and Wellington Channel, and named it Stereodon circularis, and Berggren found it in the Dovrefjeld range in Norway. Dr. Frazer gathered it near the summit of Ben Lawer on July 27th, and his specimens agree perfectly with Alpine ones from Dr. Pfeffer. Its range appears to lie between 4,000 and 7,000 feet, and its position will be between imponens and callichroum.

HYPNUM (Drepanium) BAMBERGERI, Schimper. -Dioicous in dense tufts, yellowish-green above, passing to yellow-fuseous or rufescent at base. Stem without radicles, subpinnate with a few fastigiate branches. Leaves densely crowded, secund strongly circinate, ovato-lanceolate elongated, entire, with a long acute point. Nerves two, faint; one usually longer than the other. Alar cells few, rather obscure, yellow; upper ones linear, elongate, pale. Fruit unknown, but female flowers are not unfrequent. Prof. Schimper erroneously describes the leaves as nerveless.

R. BRAITHWAITE, M.D., F.L.S.

d

Fig. 47. Hypnum Bambergeri.

a. Plant, natural size. b. Branch, seen from above. c. Branch, seen laterally. d, d. Leaves. e. Leaf-base.

ledges on the face of some towering rock, exposed to the ceaseless drip from above, he must look well to his foothold, or there is small prospect of his ever travelling south again. But when it is fine weather he is amply repaid; the air so pure as to be almost intoxicating, the clouds sailing at you like huge tables supporting pyramids of whipped cream; at your feet an ocean of mountain peaks,

ANIMALS THAT NEVER DIE.

YOUR

OUR correspondent asks (SCIENCE-GOSSIP, Jan. 1, 1868): "Will the reader be startled to hear that there are certain exceptions to the universal law of death-that there are animals, or at any rate portions of animals, which are practically immortal? Such, however, is really the case. I allude to the species of the genera Nais and Syllis." He then gives a short and inaccurate report of the observations made upon the fission or gemmation of these worms, and concludes as follows: "Whether the process goes on for ever. . . . of course no one can tell; but is it does-and there is no reason to suppose the contrary-then it is self-evident that the posterior portion of one of these worms, is, as I observed before, practically never-dying. It is simply fitted every now and then with a new head!" Now I have no doubt many of your readers would be startled by the above paragraph, and it must remind them of certain attempts to solve the problem of perpetual motion, which ought to satisfy othersbut, that, as Mr. Dick could never keep out King Charles from his Memorials, so the impracticable word if will crop up and stultify the results. The process of prolification or gemmation in the annelids is yet imperfectly worked out, but the

observations of Quatrefages and Agassiz, and others have enabled us to understand its true import in many cases. The newly-formed individuals originated by the fission of the posterior rings, are in fact Sexual zooids. Just as in the tapeworms the numerous segments, which when ripe become detached and maintain a separate vitality, are Sexual zooids, destined to carry and disseminate the ova, so in Syllis prolifica, a species frequent on our coasts, "the anterior half-now an entire worm-continues to eat as before, and conduct itself as any independent annelid; but the individual formed by the posterior half is destined solely to the generation of its species. It does not eat; and its intestinal canal having become unnecessary, wastes and is atrophied. As, however, this part contained the whole generative organs of the primary individual, the life of it is prolonged by self-nutrition, long enough to permit the maturation of the numerous ova, and by their dispersion, and evolution afterwards, the race is continued and multiplied." The posterior segment or "tail" of course perishes, at the same time with the rings which were detached with it, and in truth its life is shorter than that of the anterior segment, which is the true representative of the species, and which may form a new tail, and in time undergo new fission, and develop new sexual buds. It is doubtful whether the phenomenon of fission in the fresh-water species, Nais, Stylaria, &c., has the same significance. I have frequently watched the process in Stylaria (Nais proboscidea, Müll.), and Nais serpentina, but could never satisfy myself that the new-formed segments differed in any respect from the anterior moiety. It is quite possible that I may be mistaken, but it seemed to me that in neither the old or new parts of individuals undergoing fission were ova or spermatozoa present. Perhaps the true sexual reproduction of these worms may be limited to certain seasons of the year; and in the meantime, as is observed in many of the lower animals and plants, the species is capable of indefinite extension by a sexual fission, or budding. Certainly, the tail segment, in these species, can claim no special immunity from death. The section generally takes place near the centre of the body, the head portion forming a new tail, and the tail portion a new head, with its eyes, mouth, and cerebral ganglia-truly a circumstance wonderful enough without endowing it with immortality! In a few days it is impossible to say which individual was derived from the head, which from the tail; and very likely we shall find both of them undergoing new segmentation, or, quite as likely, both may have perished! "There is nothing new under the sun,"-and the prelections of your correspondent remind us of the ancient belief that, the os sacrum was indestructible, and from it, as from a seed, the new body at the resurrection should originate.—B. C.

ZOOLOGY.

A DARING HAWK.-Old Powell, at Harrow Weald, was at work in his garden yesterday (June 7, 1863), when a sparrow dashed up against him, closely pursued by a sparrow-hawk. The hawk, nothing daunted by his presence, seized the sparrow, which had fallen at Powell's feet, and bore it screaming away.-Harting's Birds of Middlesex..

WASP AND SPIDER.-The recent discussion in your columns about the poison in the fangs of spiders may be taken to have set the question at rest. It explains a thing which has often puzzled me, the fact that spiders can hold their own in battle against such terrible adversaries as wasps. I have frequently put a spider and a wasp together under a glass, and forced them to fight. I thought it no cruelty, as they are Arcades ambo, both strong men, and perfectly well able to take care of themselves. When left alone under the glass they generally avoided one another, until irritated by being pushed together. When this was done, a terrific battle ensued, generally ending in the death of one of the combatants. When the spider was of the smaller species, the wasp always conquered, and on one occasion I saw a wasp bite the spider in two at the narrow part. But when the spider was of the medium size, I have seen him, just as often as not, kill the wasp; a result which surprised me extremely, not knowing at the time that he also was armed with poisonous weapons. I never pitted a wasp against the large garden spider, but I believe against him he would not have even "a chance." At least, a friend to whom I was speaking of it the other day, told me he saw a wasp drop off a ripe pear, on the ground, and instantly, before he had righted, a large garden spider pounced upon him and carried him into his den. spiders, however, consider sometimes that discretion is quite as good as valour where wasps are concerned. On this point I think books of natural history have not quite correct information. I have read more than once in books that spiders when a wasp is caught in their webs, knowing they have caught a tartar, immediately break away the web themselves to let him loose, in fear of his destroying it altogether in his struggles. This may sometimes, but certainly it does not always happen. Late in this present autumn, when out naturalising, my attention was attracted by the web of a geometrical spider, in the centre of which the owner was at work upon what seemed to be a round ball of spider-silk. On going up to examine it closely, I found it was a live wasp caught in the web, which the spider was tying up in the most artistic style, preparatory of course to regaling himself upon his corporeal juice. Keeping himself out of harm's way, he wound coil after coil round him,

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