120 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



tricks. My cabinet specimen is mounted in a water-cell, and 

 exhibits to better effect than any others I have seen. 



A. Nicholson. 



Generative Gland of Oyster.— We have in this slide a very 

 early stage of egg-formation of the oyster, Ostrea edtilis, not many 

 eggs being yet present. Those present may be readily recognised 

 by the germinal vesicle being coloured, while the surrounding yelk 

 has remained free, or nearly free, from colour. The oyster is con- 

 sidered to be truly hermaphrodite, the bundles of spermatozoa 

 and eggs being produced in the same animal. I believe eggs such 

 as are present in this section to be the result of impregnation, the 

 true impregnation occurring between a clear germinal vessel and 

 sperm-cells before the formation of the yelk. In the spring 

 months, the oyster is a very interesting object of study, the pecu- 

 liar bundles of spermatozoa (see lower portions, PI. XIIL, Figs. 5 

 and 6), with their moving tails, being pretty objects ; before the 

 formation of tails, these spermatozoa are seen as in Fig. 6, Given 

 an oyster, the contents of whose generative gland you have exa- 

 mined, a section may easily be made by hardening in spirit or in 

 any other way preferred, and making sections with a Valentine's 

 knife, staining with carmine (Ammoniacal solution), and mounting 

 in glycerine or glycerine jelly. 



D. Moore. 



Pro-Leg of Larva of Lucanus cervus is a curious object, and 

 the fleshy-hke hairs, smaller at the base, are striking. When I first 

 came to Croydon it was a very common occurrence to dig up 

 these larvae in the garden, but of late years they have become 

 scarce, but as these larvae are some years before they attain 

 maturity, they cannot be expected to thrive in soil that is being 

 dug and cultivated every season ; so I fancy that as the perfect 

 insect appears as common here as formerly, the ova must be 

 deposited in some undisturbed localities in the neighbourhood. I 

 have seen drawings in which the larva of Liicamis cervus has been 

 shown in the solid wood of trees, but have never found it in such 

 situations. I have turned up numbers in the earth ; it is by no 

 means an inviting-looking insect ; it is, however, very local, and it 

 is a curious fact that the first appearance of the insect is very 

 regular, and does not appear to depend on the season, as is the 

 case with most insects. Lucanus cerims is a remarkable-looking 

 insect when seen flying steadily along in the dusk of the evening, 

 with its head and horns perfectly erect ; it flies so steadily and 



