158 JOURNAL OF THE [june, 



FORAMINIFERA FROM BERMUDA. 



Mr. A. Woodward stated that he had examined a large num- 

 ber of specimens of recent Foraminifera collected at Bermuda, 

 and had fully identified among them nearly ninety species, repre- 

 senting thirty-seven genera. A list of these will be found in 

 another part of this Number of the Journal. 



PROF. HAMILTON L. SMITH's NEW MOUNTING MEDIUM. 



President Van Brunt : " My remarks at the meetings of 

 March 20th and April 3d respecting Prof. H. L. Smith's new 

 medium for mounting were incomplete, and might create an im- 

 pression that I consider this medium a failure. I wish to cor- 

 rect this impression by repeating what I then said, and by giving 

 more fully the facts in regard to this discovery of Prof. Smith. 



"The new medium is, as I stated, glycerine holding in solu- 

 tion a salt, or salts, giving a refractive index of about 1.8. By 

 applying heat and expelling the water the index is raised still 

 higher, and the medium is hardened to such a degree that dia- 

 toms or other forms do not move easily in it, even when free to 

 move. I have slides in which the forms, mounted in this ma- 

 terial thus hardened, cannot be made to move either by pressure 

 or under the ordinary heat used in photography. Should the 

 refractive index of the medium be reduced, for purposes of pho- 

 tography, by dilution with glycerine, large forms, such as Cos- 

 cinodiscus and the larger Naviculae, would be liable to move, 

 especially if exposed to heat. 



" It is not, however, necessary that any forms should be free 

 to move in this medium. Diatoms may be fastened to the cover- 

 glass by heat. I possess a slide of selected forms which were 

 fastened to the cover in that way. It was prepared by Dr. 

 Clapp, of Indiana. Fresh forms, from which the endochrome 

 is burned out in this process, are found to adhere to the glass 

 very strongly. 



" Of other ways, of which there are many, of fixing objects to 

 the cover-glass, I will give one which has been used very suc- 

 cessfully in glycerine mounts, — the albumen method. Mix fil- 

 tered or strained albumen and glycerine, in equal parts, and 

 with a needle apply a thin film of the mixture to a surface of 

 the cover-glass. On this film place the object. If, now, the 

 albumen be coagulated by a gentle heat, it will hold the object 



