210 MICROSCOPICAL TECHNIQUE. 



freely in Jersey ; and, since the usual habitat of the plant is found 

 to be " maritime rocks," it is probable that the greater fertility of 

 the cleared soil near the shore of St. Owen's Bay was the cause of 

 the excessive luxuriance and size of the samples of Lavatera 

 Arborea seen by my friend on October loth, 1892. 



flDfcroecopical tlccbnique. 



Compiled by W. H. B. 



Substitute for Glass for Covers and Slides."^— In using Cellu- 

 loid — viz., wood rendered soluble in ether and alcohol with gum 

 camphor — for films for microphotography, Dr. Edwards was struck 

 with the idea that it could be used in microscopy. It is much 

 cheaper than glass, and almost as transparent. Being unbreakable 

 and very light, it is especially valuable for sending by post. It is 

 stronger than wood, has no fibre, and can be cut readily with 

 scissors. It can be obtained with a ground surface as well as 

 plain. The thin celluloid films commonly used for instantaneous 

 coverers can be employed for covers, whilst the thicker kind used in 

 ordinary photography makes capital slides. Dr. Edwards has some 

 an inch square, and mounts them temporarily on a glass slide for 

 use on the microscope. 



Preparing Artemia fertilis.f— Dr. J. E. Talmage finds that the 

 mounting of Artemia fertilis^ the brine shrimp, is by no means a 

 simple undertaking ; most of the ordinary media either causes the 

 delicate structure to become distorted or produces such a trans- 

 parency as renders the whole object invisible. The method which 

 he now uses is to mount them in a preparation of the lake water 

 (the lake from which he gathers his specimens is the Great Salt 

 Lake, Utah), with corrosive sublimate and an alcoholic solution of 

 carbolic acid. The living Artemi(B are placed direct into this 

 fluid ; they die quickly, in so doing spreading themselves out most 

 perfectly. Before mounting, he makes a very shallow cell of hot 

 paraffin and balsam, and after the cover-glass is in position he 



* Microscopical Notes ^ by Dr. A. M. Edwards, Newark, N.Y., U.S.A. 

 t The Microscope, xii. (1892), pp. 238—240. 



