364 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Sept. 



perceptibly in the latter, even when the 1 J-inch objective was in 

 use. 



Now I purposely abstain (for obvious reasons) from uamiug 

 the Makers of these two instruments. But I think it well to say 

 this much, in order to meet the possible objection, that the differ- 

 ence lay rather in the worhmanship of the two instruments than 

 in their plan of construction, — that the advantage, if any, lay on 

 the side of the Ross model. And my own very decided convic- 

 tion is, that the adoption of the principles of the Jackson model 

 would be decidedly advantageous, alike for y?rs^class Microscopes, 

 in which the steadiness of the image when the highest powers are 

 being employed ought to be a primary consideration, — for those 

 second-class instruments, which are intended, at a less cost, to do 

 as much of the work of the first-class as they can be made to 

 perform, portability being here of essential importance, — and for 

 those tliird-QlsiSS instruments in which everything has to be reduced 

 to its simplest form, so as to permit the greatest reduction in their 

 cost. — Dr. W. B. Carpenter, in Transactions of the Royal 

 Microscopic Society. 



— Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, who had just returned from the 

 south of Europe, after having accomplished his part of this year's 

 deep-sea exploring expedition in H.M.S. Porcupine, stated that 

 in this cruise he had dredged across the Bay of Biscay, and along 

 the coasts of Spain and Portugal to Gibraltar. The weather had 

 not been favourable; but the depth reached was 1,095 fathoms. 

 A large collection of Mollusca, Echinoderms, Corals, Sponges, and 

 Hydrozoa, had been made. Half a-dozen specimens of a beautiful 

 new Pentacrinus (^P. icyviUe-thomsoni) had been taken in 795 

 fathoms depth, between Vigo and Lisbon. Both Northern and 

 ^Mediterranean species of shells were met with. 



— Congress has granted $30,000 for the erection of a Govern- 

 ment Winter Garden, either at New York or Washington, some- 

 what similar to that at Kew, but on a smaller scale. This will 

 partake partly of the nature of an economic garden, in which 

 useful plants can be raised and then disseminated far and wide 

 throughout the States. 



Published, April 10, 1871. 



