203 



be noticed, too, tliat tlie specimens obtained on the shore at low water are not 

 in so great perfection as those which are obtained from the sea bottom, while 

 many species are only found below low water mark. 



The requisites for dredging are few, the chief thing required being the 

 dredge. We recommend one of small size, such as those used in obtaining 

 whelks, &c., by fishermen. They are small enough to be portable, and yet 

 heavy enough to keep close to the bottom without jumping over it. Buckets 

 filled with water form the best receptacles in the first instance, as the 

 specimens can there be washed, and a selection made for deposition in 

 glass vessels for subsequent examination. Even for carriage we prefer glass, 

 as the material of the jars, as earthenware is porous, difiicult to keep clean, 

 and liable to leak after a time. A long line should be provided of the kind 

 known as a deep sea line, and boatmen may easily be found at most places 

 on the coast, who know sufficient of the ground to be traversed for the pur- 

 pose of guiding the collector. A net of fine muslin, spread over a ring and 

 attached to a stick, will be most useful for obtaining many swimming 

 animals, and especially some of the larval forms, on a calm, sunny day, thus 

 afi'ording abundant material to the microscopist. Now that many of our 

 members are likely to visit the coast, many opportunities will ofi'er themselves 

 for exercising this method of obtaining specimens for study in the way of 

 our favourite pursuit. — Ed. 



The Fauna of the Victoria Docks. 



Mr. Kent, of the British Museum, at one of the excursions of the Quekett 

 Club to the Victoria Docks, discovered a new Nudibranch of the genus Emble- 

 to7iia, which he calls E. Grayii, also anew Polyzoon, large numbers of a species 

 of Mysis, the respiratory organs of which he has been investigating, and besides 

 these that most interesting fresh-water Hydrozoon, Cordylopliora. These in- 

 teresting forms are associated with a vast variety of fresh-water Eotiferse, 

 Entomostraca, and Infusoria. The occurrence of Embletonia in this position 

 is exceedingly interesting. It appears, from some observations of Dr. Gray, 

 that Embletonia pallida is frund in the Baltic, extending far up into that part 

 of the sea, where the water becomes almost fresh. Hence the occurrence of the 

 genus in the brackish or nearly fresh water of Victoria Docks is not without 

 parallel. It is an important subject for inquiry, as to how the fauna of the 

 Victoria Docks originated. Is it the representative of an ancient marsh fauna, 

 presenting in its Nudibranch and Hydrozoon an indication of the recession of 

 the sea ? Or has Embletonia been introduced with ships and established itself, 

 and has Cordylopliora, long since adapted to lacustrine conditions, also been 

 introduced since the time when the area was a marine one?' — Quarterly Jov.rnal 

 of Science. 



) 

 " The State Microscopical Society of Illinois.''^ 



Under this somewhat pretentious title a file of " The Chicago Sunday Times," 

 date May 30th, 18G9, devotes six columns, with the heading of " Microscopy " in 

 large capitals, to an account of the first conversazione of the Society, and we are 

 also favoured with its history. It seems that in the early part of last winter "The 



