1887.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 37 



The eye shows all the constituent parts as : cornea, iris, 

 lens, sclerotic, choroid, vitreous humor, retina, nerve gran- 

 ules and fibers, rods and cones, and entrance of optic nerve 

 (blind spot). 



3. Black Mangrove {Avicennia nitida, Jacg.), transverse sec- 

 tion of wood of : exhibited and described by J. L. Zabriskie. 



This tree is a native of the West Indies, and also of the Flor- 

 ida coast. The wood is heavy, hard, coarse-grained, and of 

 dark brown color. The transverse section shows the very eccen- 

 tric manner of growth of the annual rings, the irregular position 

 of the large ducts, and the abundance of resinous material. 



4. Head of a Bishop's Mitre, one of the Asopidae : exhibited 

 and described by F. W. Leggett. 



This relative of the " Cimex " is a great nuisance to fruit 

 growers, not only sucking the juice of fruit, but rendering it un- 

 palatable because of a fluid possessing an abominable smell, 

 which exudes from two little pores between the hind feet. The 

 compound eyes, the two red ocelli, the antennae and the rostrum, 

 within which are the toothed lances, can be plainly seen. 



OBJECTS FROM THE SOCIETY'S CABINET. 



5. Trans, sec. of the False Truffle {Melanogaster ambtguus, 

 Tul.), showing the spores in situ ; collected at Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y, and prepared by W. R. Gerard ; X 250. 



This fungus (see Species No. 1,048, Cooke's Hand-Book Brit. 

 Fung.) is subterraneous, but it is more closely related to the 

 Puff-Bails than to the genuine Truffle. Species of the latter 

 have their spores situated in sacks, while Melanogaster has the 

 spores diffused in patches throughout the pulpy, dark, globose 

 hymenium. And this species is distinguished by its large, ovate, 

 papillate spores, " and its abominable smell, which resembles 

 that of assafoetida. A single specimen in a room is so strong as 

 to make it scarcely inhabitable." 



6. Scale of Common Sun-fish {Lepomis gibbosus) ; by polarized 

 light ; X 30. 



This scale strikingly exhibits the characteristics of the Perch 

 family ; the rows of sharp, alternating spines, projecting from 

 the posterior free margin, and the prominent radiating rows of 

 transverse ridges, extending to the anterior margin, which is 

 imbedded in the skin. 



