1885.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 47 



are curiously and beautifully branched, and are a very pleasing 

 opaque object for the microscope. They are densely crowded, 

 and some of them have as many as twenty ramifications. I am 

 indebted for my specimen to Dr. Britton." 



Dr. Britton: '''' Leucophylluin is a genus of low, branching, 

 shrubby plants indigenous to Mexico and the southwestern part 

 of the United States. Three species are known. They bear axil- 

 lary, showy, violet-purple flowers. Z. Texamcin, Benth., grows 

 to a height of from two to eight feet, and has silvery-white, 

 obovate, nearly sessile leaves, half an inch in length. The speci- 

 men is from San Diego, Texas." 



EGGS OF LIMULUS POLYPHEMUS. 



Dr. Julien: " I have the pleasure of presenting to the Society 

 some specimens of eggs of Limulus Polyphemus, the gift of Prof. 

 W. B. D wight, of Poughkeepsie; also, some infusorial earth, col- 

 lected near Vancouver Barracks, Washington Territory, by Dr. 

 Timothy E. Wilcox, U. S. A." 



Prof. Dwight sent, with his gift, a letter conveying the follow- 

 ing information: ' These eggs of Limulus Polyphemus are nearly 

 mature. They were found last summer, buried two or three 

 inches in the sand, at a locality three miles south of Cottage 

 City, Martha's Vineyard. It was difficult to separate them from 

 the sand without injuring them, so delicate is the outer mem- 

 brane. For their preservation, I know of no better medium than 

 dilute alcohol.' 



The membrane alluded to is transparent, and the young Lim- 

 ulus is seen quite clearly. The eggs are spherical, and their 

 diameter is three-twentieths of an inch, very nearly. 



A copy of " Desmids of the United States," a gift from its 

 author, the Rev. Francis Wolle, was added to the Library. 



