ZOOLOGY. 



ON THE INFLUENCE OF ART UPON ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



Prof. George Wilson of Edinburgh, in a recent article, thus notices the ex- 

 tent to which living organisms are influenced by art, and rendered machines 

 and apparatus, which can be weilded to a certain degree at will. 



A cattle dealer will give you one calf, Avhich shall certainly, in course of 

 time, prove a bountiful yieldcr of milk and cream ; another, which shall as 

 certainly be a fatted ox when three years old ; a third, which shall by and by 

 be a match for a horse at the plough. The Yorkshire broadcloih makers 

 choo-e by preference the long-stapled wool of sheep fed plentifully upon 

 artificial grasses, turnips, and the like. The Welsh blanket makers, on the 

 other hand, prefer the shorter wool of sheep cropping the natural grass of 

 the hills ; whilst the Scotch tartan-shawl weavers work only with Australian 

 or Saxon wools. In like manner, the comb-makers will tell you that the 

 farmers are injuring them, by multiplying breeds of cattle which quickly 

 fatten, and are, in consequence, killed before their horns arc well grown ; 

 and those same industrialists will curiously distinguish between the tortoise- 

 shell from one region of the sea and that from another. I should never end, 

 were I to pursue this matter. 



THE MICROSCOPIC COLLECTION OF THE LATE PROFESSOR BAILEY. 



T 



he Microscopic collection of the late Prof. -Bailey, of West Point, was by 

 the will of its owner, bequeathed to the Boston Society of Natural History. 

 This collection, embracing specimens, mounted and prepared for preserva- 

 tion and examination, books, drawings and rough material, is far superior 

 to any similar collection in this country, and is probably not surpassed by 

 tiny in Europe. As the object of Prof. Bailey in bequeathing this valuable 

 collection to the Boston Society, was, that it might be made most available 

 to the general interests of science, wo think we shall do good service by 

 enumerating somewhat in detail the materials which hereafter can be made 

 available for consultation by all microscopic investigators. 



The Microscopic Collection, which comprises the most valuable portion 

 of the specimens mounted for the microscope, is contained in twenty-four 

 boxes in the shape of octavo volumes. 



Five f the boxes contain specimens of Diatoms, etc., from the Atlantic 



