772 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



noted, of which three are new to science : these are Neumannia 

 papillosa sp. n., Mideopsis minuta sp. n., and Hygrobates edmtipaVpis sp. n. 

 The Lake Nyassa tube only yielded one species, but this is another new- 

 one, I'liioiricula Cunningtoni sp. n., very close to U. figuralis. The 

 paper includes a list of the seventeen species of Hydrachnids now 

 recorded from the East African lakes. All the new species referred to 

 at this meeting are fully described and figured in the November issue 

 of the Journal of the Quekett Microscopical Club. Mr. A. C. Banfield 

 exhibited living specimens of Cristatella mucedo abnormally hatched 

 from statoblasts. The usual time of appearance is about the end of 

 February and beginning of March. 



Katalog der Kollektivausstellung der deutschen Prazisionsmechanik und Optik auf 

 der Weltausstellung in Briissel, 1910. 



Deutsche Median.- Zeitg., 1910, Heft 12, p. 117. 



B. Technique.* 

 (1) Collecting- Objects, including- Culture Processes. 



'Michael Sars' North Atlantic Deep-sea Expedition, 1910. f — 

 Johan Hjort gives an interesting description of the voyage of the 

 ' Michael Sars,' lent by the Norwegian Government, the expenses of the 

 expedition being defrayed by Sir John Murray. The expedition left 

 Bergen at the end of March 1910, picked up Murray at Plymouth, and 

 then followed the coasts of Europe and Africa down to Cape Bogador, 

 carrying out special investigations in the Bay of Biscay, Bay of Cadiz, 

 and the waters between the Canary Islands and Africa. It then pro- 

 ceeded to the Sargasso sea, and after touching at the Azores it went 

 across the Atlantic to St. John's, Newfoundland. From there it crossed 

 to Ireland, and finally investigated the waters between Scotland and 

 Bockall, and between Scotland and the Faroes, so as to study the in- 

 fluence exerted by the Atlantic Ocean on the Norwegian sea. 



Only a sketch of the doings is given, but the preliminary description 

 is full of facts and interest. After alluding to the results of the hydro- 

 graphical investigations the writer describes the methods of obtaining 

 phytoplankton. Vertical hauls were made at various depths with a 

 fine-meshed Nansen closing-net, the object being to collect material 

 for studying the vertical and horizontal distribution of periclina? and 

 diatoms in the Atlantic Ocean. A considerable part of the work was 

 directed towards the study of those organisms which pass through the 

 finest silk net ; these were collected partly by filtering sea-water through 

 sand filters, and partly by centrifuging. In these ways a large number 

 of new forms were obtained. 



For catching zooplankton a vertical closing-net, 1 m. in diameter, 

 made of coarse silk, was used. For reasons given, this was superseded 

 by large nets of 8*25 m. in diameter, made partly of coarser silk and 

 partly of prawn-net, arranged on the principle of Nansen's closing-net. 



* This subdivision contains (1) Collecting Objects, including Culture Pro- 

 cesses ; (2) Preparing Objects ; (3) Cutting, including Imbedding and Microtomes ; 

 (4) Staining and Injecting ; (5) Mounting, including slides, preservative fluids, etc. ; 

 (6) Miscellaneous. f Nature, lxxxv. (1910) pp. 52-5 (5 figs.). 



