2402 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



experiment with the various specimens to see what would live together. The 

 classes seem to have a live interest in their work, and I feel that during the 

 coming summer they may be more observant of the animal life which surrounds 

 them. 



We hope this year to do some work on the economic importance of birds, 

 trusting that it may be one step toward their preservation in the future. If we 

 can inculcate the right spirit into our boys and girls, it ought to be a great factor 

 in their attitude toward the birds. 



This outside work means great fatigue upon the part of the teacher, but all 

 who have tried it must consider it one of the most valuable parts of their work. 

 It frequently fosters a liking for animals which was lacking before. The child 

 who feels disinclined to take part in this work often becomes our greatest enthu- 

 siast. The students who have considered the museum an uninteresting place, 

 have been heard to remark, " Why, I did not know it was like this," or " This 

 is not work." 



The teacher and pupil are brought into a more sympathetic relation, which 

 simply emphasizes the fact, " That one touch of nature makes the whole world 

 kin." Kate B. Hixon. 



Morris High School. 



Flies as Carriers of Bacteria. 



School Science for April publishes an interesting laboratory study in ele- 

 mentary bacteriology by Eva May Shoemaker and Alvin Waggoner, two juniors, 

 in the Eastern Illinois State Normal School. These two students, working in 

 a secondary school laboratory, tried to determine experimentally "the part flies 

 may play in the transmission of bacteria." 



To do this they constructed a piece of apparatus, consisting of a box divided 

 into two compartments (Fig. 1). In the first compartment they exposed food 

 material infected with an easily recognizable species of bacteria, — harmless bac- 

 teria, of course, being used, — and in the second compartment they placed an open 

 Petri dish, containing sterile nutrient agar. Flies were placed in the first com- 

 partment, and, as soon as a number of them had been seen to walk upon, or eat 

 of the infected material, they were allowed to pass through a small door into 

 the second compartment, where they had a chance to come into contact with the 

 agar in the Petri dish. Bacteria, deposited on the surface of nutrient agar, 

 multiply there and form characteristic colonies. 



" In the preliminary experiment, performed July l(3th, a yellow bacterium was 

 used. Molasses mixed with a growth of this bacterium was spread on a plate in 

 the first compartment, and a dozen flies put into the apparatus. Half an hour 

 later, the door between the two compartments was opened, and the flies allowed 

 to pass through. As soon as six of them had been seen to come in contact with 

 the agar in the Petri dish, the dish was covered and put away to develop. A few 

 days later, there had grown on the agar over one hundred yellow colonies of 

 bacteria." 



