631 



The remedy is a simple one. If a small quantity of oil is poured 

 on the sections whether already fixed to the slide or not : and then the 

 Avhole is gently warmed for a short time , an operation readily per- 

 formed on the water-hath used to melt the paraffin for imbedding 

 purposes, the milkiness disappears. If it does not disappear at once, 

 the oil on the slide should be poured off, fresh oil added and the heat- 

 ing repeated. 



The rationale of the process depends upon the fact that the mil- 

 kiness is due to a combination between the essential oil and a small 

 residual quantity of water. I have seen this compound termed a cam- 

 phor in a chemical text book: but whatever its nature may be, it is 

 readily soluble by the aid of warmth in an excess of the essential oil. 



If heating the slide is objectionable, repeated soaking in absolute 

 Alcohol will effect the same end. But it is much more troublesome 

 and takes a longer time. 



As I cannot find any mention of the matter in textbooks of Histo- 

 logical methods, I venture to publish this note in the hope that the 

 remedy may sometimes be of use to other microscopists. 



Museum, Oxford, Oct. 7. 1889. 



2. Zoological Society of London. 



19*^^ November, 1889. — The Secretary read a report on the additions 

 that had been made to the Sciiety's Menagerie during the month of October 

 1889, and called special attention to the arrival of a young male Gaur [Bibos 

 gaurus) from Pahang, one of the native States in the Malay Peninsula, pre- 

 sented to the Society by Sir Cecil S. Smith, K.C.M.G., the Governor of the 

 Straits Settlement. — The President exhibited and made remarks on a head 

 of an African Rhinoceros [Rhinocei-os bico7-nis) with a third posterior horn 

 partially developed. The animal from which it was taken had been shot by 

 Sir John Willoughbey, in Eastern Africa. — The Secretary exhibited a skin 

 of an albino variety of the Cape Mole-Rat (Georyclms capensis), forwarded to 

 the Society by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C.M.Z.S., of Capetown. — Mr. A. 

 Smith- Wo dw ard, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on a portion of 

 the rostrum of an extinct Saw-fish [Sclei-orhynchus] from the chalk of Mount 

 Lebanon. — Mr. Goodwin exhibited and made remarks on specimens of 

 some rare Paradise-birds obtained by him on Mount Owen-Stanley, New 

 Guinea, when in company with Sir William Macgregor's recent expedition ; 

 also some photographs taken on the same occasion. — A communication 

 was read from the Rev. Thomas R. R. Stebbing and Mr. David Robert- 

 son containing the descriptions of four new British Amphipodous Crusta- 

 ceans. These were named Sophrosyne Rohertsoni, Syrrhoe ßmbriata , Podo- 

 ceropsis pahnatus, and Podocerus cumbrensis . Of these, Sophrosyne Robertsoni 

 belonged to a genus first observed at Kerguelen Island. — Mr. G. W. 

 Butler read a paper on ,,The Subdivision of the Body-cavity in Lizards, 



