78 NATURAL SCIENCE [August 
selves on that zeal for discovery which raises the work of a public 
department into one of international distinction. 
Microscopy IN MANCHESTER 
THE Manchester Microscopical Society has recently issued its 
“Transactions and Annual Report” for 1896, and an excellent 
little publication it is. To our way of thinking it is almost a model 
of what such a publication should be. Without claiming to contain 
the results of elaborate original research, the papers are nevertheless 
of a very useful and suggestive nature. Prof. Weiss, of Owens 
College, in his presidential address gives a very good account of the 
main facts known of the biology of those, from some points of view, 
exceedingly familiar organisms, the diatoms. We believe that the 
type of microscopist known a few years back as the ‘ Diatomaniac’ 
is wellnigh extinct, but if a few individuals of the species still 
exist we feel sure a perusal of Prof. Weiss’s paper would do much 
to broaden their views of things in general and of diatoms in 
particular. We heartily endorse the sentiment of Prof. Weiss when 
he says, “I should like to plead for the union of two branches of 
study, the systematic and the physiological or biological, the 
severance of which is greatly to be regretted, and has proved 
‘wherever it occurs to be a hindrance to the real progress of 
Natural Science.” Other papers in the TZvansactions deal with 
“The Method of Reproduction in Plants,” more especially the 
microscopical forms, “The Structure and Development of the 
Hydrozoa,’ “The Lace-work Sponge,” “The Defensive Devices of 
Lepidopterous Larvae,” “The Entomology of the Oak,’ and “The 
Distribution of the Fresh-water Fauna.” The latter is by Prof. 
S. J. Hickson, and contains many most interesting facts and 
suggestions. Prof. Hickson considers that the facts of distribu- 
tion teach us that fresh-water animals may be divided into three 
groups: (1) the Cosmopolitan group, including the large majority 
of fresh-water species ; (2) the Archaic group, represented by such 
forms as Apus and Limnocodium; and (8) the Recent group, com- 
prising species which have only recently migrated into fresh water, 
such as Cordylophora and some of the prawns. The problems to 
which this paper draws our attention increase our regret that this 
country is still without any prospect of a fresh-water biological 
station. 
Altogether, judging from the papers and report, the Manchester 
Microscopical Society seems to be in a very vigorous condition, 
which is something to be thankful for in these latter days when 
local societies are too often more asleep than awake. 
