78 NATURAL SCIENCE 



[August 



selves on that zeal for discovery which raises the work of a public 

 department into one of international distinction. 



Microscopy in Manchester 



The Manchester Microscopical Society has recently issued its 

 "Transactions and Annual Eeport" for 1896, and an excellent 

 little publication it is. To our way of thinking it is almost a model 

 of what such a publication should be. Without claiming to contain 

 the results of elaborate original research, the papers are nevertheless 

 of a very useful and suggestive nature. Prof. Weiss, of Owens 

 College, in his presidential address gives a very good account of the 

 main facts known of the biology of those, from some points of view, 

 exceedingly familiar organisms, the diatoms. We believe that the 

 type of microscopist known a few years back as the ' Diatomaniac ' 

 is wellnigh extinct, but if a few individuals of the species still 

 exist we feel sure a perusal of Prof. Weiss's paper would do much 

 to broaden their views of things in general and of diatoms in 

 particular. We heartily endorse the sentiment of Prof. Weiss when 

 he says, " I should like to plead for the union of two branches of 

 study, the systematic and the physiological or biological, the 

 severance of which is greatly to be regretted, and has proved 

 wherever it occurs to be a hindrance to the real progress of 

 Natural Science." Other papers in the Transactions deal with 

 " The Method of Eeproduction in Plants," more especially the 

 microscopical forms, " The Structure and Development of the 

 Hydrozoa," " The Lace-work Sponge," " The Defensive Devices of 

 Lepidopterous Larvae," " The Entomology of the Oak," and " The 

 Distribution of the Fresh-water Fauna." The latter is by Prof. 

 S. J. Hickson, and contains many most interesting facts and 

 suggestions. Prof. Hickson considers that the facts of distribu- 

 tion teach us that fresh-water animals may be divided into three 

 groups: (1) the Cosmopolitan group, including the large majority 

 ■of fresh- water species ; (2) the Archaic group, represented by such 

 forms as Apus and Limnocodium ; and (3) the Eecent group, com- 

 prising species which have only recently migrated into fresh water, 

 such as Cordylophora and some of the prawns. The problems to 

 which this paper draws our attention increase our regret that this 

 country is still without any prospect of a fresh-water biological 

 station. 



Altogether, judging from the papers and report, the Manchester 

 Microscopical Society seems to be in a very vigorous condition, 

 which is something to be thankful for in these latter days when 

 local societies are too often more asleep than awake. 



